Blog – Making Care Home Research Visible

When I started nursing there were probably half a dozen computers in the entire hospital. They were accessed by a few chosen admin staff and the only thing they were connected to was the 240-volt wall socket. I’m now into my fifth “nursing” decade since those less enlightened days and, as we all know, connectivity is now the word, not only socially but in “organisational visibility”, the first buzzwords!

Now before I go any further, I should apologise for the rest of the buzzwords that are about to uncomfortably no doubt, trip off my lips. But trying to make this point without using them would be a bit like writing an ethics proposal without using vowels, so here goes.

For a bit of context, ENRICH Scotland supports and promotes research within care homes across Scotland. The aim is straightforward: to help research become part of everyday care home practice so that evidence can improve treatment, care and quality of life for residents.

When ENRICH Scotland first received funding in 2022 from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government, the main priority was raising the profile of ENRICH Scotland and the reason was fairly simple. One of the realities of modern research is that if people cannot easily find you, they are unlikely to engage with you.

So, this is where what people now call “digital visibility” comes in. As it was explained to me, it is not marketing in the commercial sense and it certainly is not about collecting followers, friends, thumbs up or smiley faces to pat you on the back about your online popularity. In practical terms it simply means making sure that when someone goes looking online for information about care home research, they can quickly find a clear and credible place to begin.

It’s important to remember that care home research spans a wide range of topics. Studies ENRICH Scotland support may look at clinical care, service organisation, workforce development, quality improvement or the lived experiences of residents, families and staff. An important point for readers on the “dementia researcher” site is that while only a few studies focuses specifically on dementia, the demographics of care home residents mean that many live with this disease or significant cognitive impairment. That inevitably means most care home research needs to consider dementia within its design, otherwise the majority of the intended population may be unintentionally excluded, hence creating bias.

Getting back to our “online presence”, what links all studies is the need to work with care homes as genuine partners in research rather than simply as places where research happens. Achieving that consistently across a diverse and busy sector is not always straightforward.

Over the past five years, ENRICH Scotland has addressed, and arguably surpassed, this challenge by providing a clear gateway into care home research.

A simple way to see this is to type the phrase “care home research Scotland” into a search engine. What you will increasingly find is that ENRICH Scotland does not just appear as the first result, it fills much of the entire first page.

Now I am told that securing that number one spot is something of a digital holy grail, and leaving Indiana Jones aside for a moment, what it really means in practice is that anyone looking for care home research in Scotland is now quickly directed to the same coordinated starting point.

Importantly, this visibility reflects something deeper about how ENRICH Scotland tends to operate. One of their many strengths is that it operates as one team covering the whole country, “Team Scotland” if you like. Yes, it is true we are a relatively small country but perhaps because of that collaboration often comes more naturally than competition.

That spirit is particularly valuable in care home research. Behind the now highly visible visible front door provided by ENRICH Scotland sits a wider network of universities, researchers, care providers and policy colleagues working together. The result is not a single organisation claiming ownership of the research landscape but a coordinated approach that makes participation easier for everyone involved.

For care homes, that means a clearer route to explore research opportunities and access support if they wish to take part. For researchers, it offers a more organised way of engaging with the sector and helps avoid the situation where individual homes receive multiple unconnected approaches from different studies.

Looking back over the past five years, it is encouraging to see how this approach has developed. Networks have grown, relationships between researchers and care providers have strengthened and there is increasing recognition that care homes themselves are important partners in generating knowledge that can improve care.

If the first five years of ENRICH Scotland have been about building that visible gateway, which I must say we have achieved beyond our expectations, then the next five years may be about strengthening what sits behind it. Continued collaboration, deeper engagement with care providers and maintaining that coordinated “Team Scotland” approach will all be important parts of the journey.

Perhaps most importantly, the principle should remain simple. In a connected world, research should be easy to find, easy to understand and easy to engage with. If someone searching for care home research in Scotland quickly discovers a clear route through ENRICH Scotland, then that visibility is doing exactly what good research infrastructure should do.

And if we occasionally have to use a few awkward buzzwords to describe it, I suppose that is a small price to pay. After all, it does mean research is a little more connected than it was back in the days when the only thing a computer was connected to was the wall.

Bernie McInally

Author

Bernie McInally is a Clinical Studies Officer at NHS Lothian and the Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network. Bernie’s background is in Nursing, working in Mental Health and with Older People. He retired from full time NHS clinical work, and is now back working in Clinical Research supporting delivery of the Enabling Research in Care Homes (ENRICH) Scotland. He is passionate about research delivery, and opening access to people in all communities.