A new project is underway to develop shared working between academic and local authority teams in West Yorkshire. Led by Professor Anne Forster, member of the ARC Yorkshire and Humber Older People with Frailty theme, it will contribute to the development of research methods that support current and future evaluation of social care initiatives and interventions. The Adult and Community Services team at the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (BMDC) are in the process of developing new approaches to the delivery of home support to older people, as this support starts to move away from time and task focussed commissioning and looks towards outcomes focussed commissioning, providing more flexible, person centred services to our local communities. In order to explore the effectiveness of the changes, which we hope will lead to greater well being and more social connectedness for the people who receive services, collaborative work is now underway.
Professor Anne Forster, Professor of Ageing and Stroke Research (based at Bradford Royal Infirmary), Jacqui Turner, a commissioning manager in Adult and Community Services, BMDC, and Fran Labrom, part time research fellow funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research ARC, have started to build links between our organisations and will be work planning – starting with the home support innovations project. If you feel this links in with your work or interests in any way, please reach out to Fran Labrom (Research Fellow in Academic Unit Ageing and Stroke Research) at Frances.Labrom@bthft.nhs.uk
We are always happy to make links and explore ideas!
