Care staff work with scientists to tackle infections in care homes

A partnership between Care England, UCL (University College London), and The Outstanding Society (OS) has been established to help tackle the problem of infections in care homes and learn lessons from the pandemic.

Set up in June 2020, the Vivaldi study collected information from over 50,000 care home staff and residents across more than 300 settings in England to look for ways to reduce infections as well as to define the best practice for both residents and staff in regard to sick pay and wellbeing.

Now, this new partnership will build on the Vivaldi study to establish a network of 500-1,500 care homes in England that want to improve care quality and are open to sharing data on their residents, with appropriate governance and oversight.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England said: “The Vivaldi project really shows the benefit of care homes being involved in research.

“Vivaldi delivered changes in policy and practice that were driven by the experiences of care homes. For one of the first times in our recent history, we had a policy agenda that was dictated by what worked for the care homes during a global pandemic.

“Vivaldi has clearly shown the power of care homes coming together with researchers to define the best practice for both residents and staff.”

Examples from the Vivaldi study include showing how important it was to pay full sick pay to staff – supporting the set-up of the infection control fund and monitoring how well vaccines protect vulnerable residents – informing when to use booster jabs.

Professor Laura Shallcross at UCL said: “We want to challenge the view that infections and outbreaks are simply an inevitable part of living in a care home, by delivering research and surveillance that tackles all kinds of infections.”

Between now and December, its working group of care providers, researchers, and people with lived experience will meet to develop a detailed plan for the network. It will also identify providers to take part in a pilot study.

Zoe Fry, OS executive director, added: “The OS is delighted to work with UCL and Care England to continue using evidence obtained within social care to reduce the impact of infections for the care home community, not only for the physical wellbeing of residents, teams, and visitors but their mental wellbeing too.”

Providers interested in taking part should contact Vivaldi@careengland.org.uk.