Professor Spilsbury leads £1m research project into care home workforce and quality

The care home workforce and the quality of care they provide are to be evaluated by academics led from the University of Leeds in a major £1m study, funded by the NIHR

Professor Karen Spilsbury from the School of Healthcare will lead the three-year study in partnership with colleagues from Leeds, BUPA, Skills for Care, and the Universities of Surrey, Newcastle, East Anglia and City University London. More than 400,000 older people in the UK live in independently owned care homes. 

Professor Spilsbury said: “In a time of rising costs for the care home sector, increased demand for care for older people and difficulties in recruiting staff it is vital that we understand how best to use the skills, knowledge and experience of the workforce to get the highest possible quality care from the system and promote effective working between health and social care.”

Andrea Sutcliffe (chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, Care Quality Commission) recognises that the relationship between people working in care homes and quality of care, “…are factors that are a priority for people using services, their families and carers.” This is the first major UK study addressing this important question.