Fostering relationships and links across generations can bring benefits to all. With matched funding from the National Lottery Community Fund #iwill campaign, the Dunhill Medical Trust is supporting projects that are establishing intergenerational links between young people and older people in care homes.
The Dunhill Medical Trust funds a wide range of projects within the Community Grants portfolio. This diversity means it is challenging to come up with a universal set of measures to evaluate their impact.
There is a large amount of healthcare data available in the UK, and new statistical techniques are allowing researchers to analyse differences in dementia care between ethnic groups in detail for the first time. Professor Claudia Cooper used this data to identify inequalities in access to dementia diagnosis and prescription of different drugs in Black, Asian and White groups.
Very little research has been done to understand the health and social care needs of older trans people, particularly those transitioning at an older age. Dr Paul Willis and his team wanted to understand the challenges faced by older trans people accessing health and social care in Wales.
As we get older, our senses change, including our sensitivity to temperature. People living in care homes don’t have control over their environment, and may not be able to determine or communicate if they’re uncomfortably warm or cold. Professor Charmaine Childs used thermal imaging to understand how people’s physical temperatures compared with how they felt, and whether this was affected by dementia.
In the next of a series of reflections from our Research Training Fellows, Lucy Beishon, who is researching the benefits of “brain training” as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment, shares her experience of the first year of her fellowship.