In July 2024, we launched our first-ever implementation-focused funding call aimed at supporting the implementation of services, programmes and interventions with robust evidence of effectiveness that could directly support older adults’ independence.
We were mindful of the substantial number of interventions which have already been developed to prevent health and/or social care requirements for older adults. Many of these are already well-evidenced and demonstrate value. Therefore, our aim was to provide funding to support programmes seeking to implement and evaluate existing evidence-based interventions at greater scale, which generate evidence on financial impacts and sustainability, to help secure their longer-term and/or more widespread adoption. As with all of our funding opportunities, we were also looking for proposals which aligned with our key values for research.
We held 35 expression of interest conversations in total. Following assessment, 13 of these were invited to submit a full application (a success rate of 37% at this stage); of these, one application was withdrawn by the lead applicant before the deadline of the full submission stage. You can read our earlier blog post for general feedback on the applications received at this stage.
All 12 submitted full applications were externally peer reviewed, and applicants then had the chance to respond to reviewers’ key points of feedback. The full applications, along with applicants’ responses, were then assessed by a panel comprising independent experts and suitably qualified members of our Research Grants Committee. The panel members were:
- Professor Carmel Hughes, Queen’s University Belfast (Chair of the Expert Panel and Vivensa Foundation Research Grants Committee)
- Professor Ala Szczepura, Coventry University (Research Grants Committee member)
- Professor Annette Boaz, King’s College London
- Dr Dina Jankovic, University of York
- Dominic Jones, NHS England (Vivensa Foundation Trustee)
- Dr Peter Hartley, University of Cambridge
- Professor Louise Robinson, Newcastle University (Research Grants Committee member)
- James Lorigan, Moorfield Eye Hospital (Vivensa Foundation Trustee)
- Professor Joanna Coast, University of Bristol
- Dr Kimberley Smith, University of Surrey
- Professor Stuart Gray, University of Glasgow (Research Grants Committee member)
The Expert Panel, along with the remaining members of our Research Grants Committee, came together to make decisions on funding in early February 2025. Also present at this meeting were two early career researchers, Dr Anthony Mangiacotti and Dr Grace Pearson, who had been given the opportunity to observe a Research Grants Committee meeting.
Thank you to everyone who applied to the call – we appreciate the time and effort that goes into making an application. We also appreciate the large amount of work involved in reviewing grant applications, which is crucial to good decision-making. We’d therefore like to take this opportunity to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to all those who contributed to the assessment of these proposals.
Of the 12 full applications, we are delighted to announce that two projects were selected for funding (a success rate of 17% at this stage). More details on the funded proposals are provided below.
Please expand the project titles below to read more information, including the lay summary:
Lead applicant: Dr Katie Robinson (University of Nottingham)
Partners: Lincolnshire County Council; Nottinghamshire County Council
Award amount: £935,777.58
Duration: 42 months
Summary: Every year, a lot of older people fall. These falls often lead to serious injuries and are a common reason for moving into care homes, increasing the amount of paid support at home or needing to rely more on family, friends and neighbours for informal support. Falling can make people lose confidence in their abilities to do different activities, leading to loneliness and physical weakness, increasing the risk of more falls. It’s important to identify why someone might fall and put things in place to try and reduce these risks. This needs to be done whilst also supporting people to be confident and continue to do the things they enjoy doing. Action Falls helps older adults avoid falls and injuries. It finds out why someone might fall and suggests ways to help, like checking their medication and encouraging them to stay active. It was created to try and prevent falls in care homes. It includes training for care home staff, a manual, and a checklist of what to look out for and what to do. Home care providers, local care groups, and older adults who live in the community think Action Falls could be useful too, to help reduce the number of falls in older adults who live at home. We have identified that the programme could be particularly useful for older people who are supported by home care services.
The goal of this project is to develop ways to deliver and keep the programme running for older people supported by home care services and then try out if it can be delivered and if it helps to support older people.
The first part will be to plan and make changes to the current Action Falls programme to make sure it is suitable for use in home care settings. We will do this by observing what happens on domiciliary care visits and by asking people who are supported by and who deliver home care how the programme needs to be changed. We will then deliver the programme across home care in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire and evaluate how well it has worked. We will focus on coastal and rural areas.
By reducing older peoples’ risk of falls at home, individuals can continue to live confidently in the place they call home, with the people and things they love, doing the things that matter to them.
Lead applicant: Professor Afroditi Stathi (University of Birmingham)
Partners: NHS Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board; London Borough of Camden; NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board; AgeUK Bristol; University of Bath
Award amount: £1,079,983.00
Duration: 36 months
Summary: As people get older their physical functioning and mobility decrease. This affects their health, ability to live independently, quality of life and even how long they live. Between 30% and 65% of adults who score in a certain range (4-9) on a specific test of lower-limb mobility will develop severe mobility limitations within three years.
Our own research shows that over 20% of adults aged 70 or more score in this “high-risk” range. The research team in this collaboration have developed an exercise programme called REACT (REtirement in ACTion) for people at high risk of developing mobility limitations (as defined above). A large, high quality trial showed that the REACT programme improved physical function for at least a two year period. It also showed a reduction in health and social care costs for people receiving the intervention. The cost-saving was greater than the cost of the intervention. The programme has been very successful in reaching economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse communities in a small-scale roll-out in Bristol over the last 3 years. However, there is a large gap between having clear scientific evidence for a research-based intervention and getting that intervention delivered at scale across the UK. Our three-year study will deliver the REACT programme at scale in two regions of England (North Central London and Bristol North Somerset and South Gloucester).
We will do this in partnership with a wide range of collaborators, including the Integrated Care Boards (who pay for and co-ordinate health and social care services), voluntary sector organisations (like Age UK) and groups of older people. At least 750 older people with mobility limitations will receive the programme in the two regions and help us to:
- Provide clear examples of how REACT can be delivered regionally;
- Establish efficient and inclusive recruitment and selection processes;
- Estimate the costs (and savings) and health consequences of delivering REACT;
- Identify the most appropriate funding model (e.g. fully subsidised vs partly-subsidised);
- Identify ways to overcome common barriers to delivery.
By doing this, we hope to accelerate the REACT programme towards UK-wide delivery. We will use the knowledge gained to write a “toolkit” for other integrated care boards and their partners. This will explain the economic case for the programme, provide ideas for engaging a diverse range of older adults at high risk of severe mobility limitations and for ensuring high quality delivery of the REACT intervention.
Congratulations to the successful applicants and we very much look forward to working with you. We hope that the unsuccessful applicants found the feedback provided to each of them helpful.
We recently closed this year’s expression of interest stage for our call focused on implementing evidence-based interventions that prevent, delay or reduce health and social care requirements for older adults in underserved communities, and we aim to provide feedback on the expression of interest applications submitted in due course. Feel free to explore our other funding opportunities and those from other UK Ageing Research Funders’ Forum members. Join our mailing list to stay informed about our future activities and funding calls – you can add your details here.