The ‘GEAReD Up’ project examined how data about care home residents can currently be accessed and used
A study led by Edinburgh Napier University recommends developing a national framework for care home data – to benefit residents and inform Scotland’s health and social care services.
The research, entitled ‘GEAReD Up’, proposes a series of practical steps to strengthen the data of care homes and ensure that the currently available information can be used by providers, researchers, policy makers and innovators to make improvements.
A call for a robust Scotland-wide framework, is among eight recommendations in the final report, as well as a clear pathway for accessing ethical and governance approval for the re-use of data.
It also recommends backing greater care home involvement in these solutions with more support and resources, while establishing better communication and coherence between local and national systems.
Lucy Johnston, GEAReD Up lead and Senior Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Health and Social Care, said: “Amid the prospect of a National Care Service, there is a real desire to understand and address the issues faced by the sector.
“Our work has helped to unravel some of problems relating to data and offer practical solutions for the management and accessibility of crucial information.
“It is so important to build these foundation blocks now. This work can help play a part in enhancing the use of routinely collected care home data being used to support care decisions, improve services, inform research and increase data-driven innovation”.
The study, which has been presented to industry leaders and delivery partners, will also feed into a Scotland-wide Care Home Data Review, which is currently underway.
It suggests that an overseeing body and a more established process for systematic curation of routinely collected care home data would allow more effective reuse of data in research and innovation projects, and benefit care home residents and providers.
Irina McLean from NHS Research Scotland Central Management Team, and co-author of the report, said: “In Scotland, there is currently no consensus or defined route for the legal, ethical and efficient access to permit reuse of care home data for research or service evaluation.
“The GEAReD Up report sets out practical steps for moving forward. Its recommendations can feed into ongoing work nationally and locally as it is critical to do what we can to enable high quality research and innovation in Scottish care homes and social care overall.”
Fellow co-author Dr Susan D Shenkin, Reader in Ageing and Health at the Usher Institute and Advanced Care Research Centre within the University of Edinburgh said: “This report builds on our work showing that a care home data platform must have strong foundations to ensure it meets the needs of care home residents, their families and the staff who care for them.
“This requires a clear understanding of how and why data are collected about the people who live in care homes.”
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