Adult social care experts at the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University have been selected to join a centre of excellence for research and best practice in the sector.
The University of Leeds’ School of Healthcare, and Leeds Beckett University’s Centre for Dementia Research partnership, known as SSCR@Leeds, has been chosen by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to join its School for Social Care Research (SSCR), which has been developing the evidence base to inform and improve adult social care practice in England since 2009.
NIHR SSCR announced in December that it will receive up to £31 million in funding over 5 years. This will further support the School’s core vision to provide better evidence for what works in adult social care and how this can be applied across the whole country. This will support, mobilise and deliver impact for the benefit of the public as service users, carers and the workforce.
“Our membership of NIHR SSCR is important recognition of what we do well and the difference our research is making to people.”
-Professor Karen Spilsbury, School of Healthcare
The six academic institutions forming the NIHR SSCR were chosen because they demonstrate excellence in social care research, with an emphasis on findings that can be applied across the whole country.
SSCR@Leeds Director Karen Spilsbury, Professor of Nursing in the University of Leeds’ School of Healthcare, said: “As members of the NIHR SSCR, we will build on our track record of delivering internationally excellent social care research through our care and science partnership – Nurturing Innovation in Care Home Excellence in Leeds (NICHE Leeds).
“Membership provides the opportunity to expand our work, engaging more care homes and expanding our research into homecare and assisted living for older people – and expanding our approaches to research and investing in building capacity and capability for social care research. Our membership of NIHR SSCR is important recognition of what we do well and the difference our research is making to people.”
SSCR@Leeds’ research will focus on areas that matter most for the people using and providing care, including areas such as met and unmet needs; new technologies; the role of the community in promoting wellbeing; diversity, and use of data.
Work will also address challenges facing the adult social care workforce, including recruitment and retention; workforce development, skills, and training; roles development and new ways of working, and equality and diversity.
Regional impact
Claire Surr, Professor of Dementia Studies and Director of the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University, said: “The SSCR@Leeds partnership provides an exciting opportunity for carrying out social care research that will not only positively impact the city region, but which will provide nationally relevant learning.
“It will open greater opportunities to work with other leading social care researchers and provides an exciting opportunity to grow academic and practice-based social care research capacity within Leeds. This will help us to achieve what matters most, which is research that can be used by social care providers, commissioners and policy makers to support improved care.”
The investment for NIHR SSCR will fund the next five years of the School (2024-2029) and marks its fourth phase. The £31 million is made up of £25 million for research and up to £6 million to build social care research capacity. The School will continue to complement existing NIHR funding streams for social care research.
Professor Yvonne Birks, based at the University of York has been appointed as the SSCR Director to lead the School in its fourth phase.
Professor Yvonne Birks, Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York and new Director of the NIHR School for Social Care Research, said: “I am honoured and delighted to have the opportunity to lead NIHR SSCR through the next five years. In my 10 years of involvement to date I have been privileged to see the huge strides in visibility and quality in relation to social care research.
“As a discipline, social care research has come such a distance with unprecedented investment from NIHR and we no longer have to justify the need for investment. Our efforts need to address building capacity for our community of excellent early career researchers and demonstrate real impact. That is our focus.”
