€4.5m to provide dignified care for older people

The project ‘INNOVATEDIGNITY’ is being financed by the European Commission and involves experts in nursing from across the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Greece.

The trans-national training network aims to deliver “a shared, world-leading research programme to educate the next generation of thought leaders with the necessary research experience and transferable skills to deliver innovations in dignified, sustainable care systems for older people, including new care models and digital applications”.

The research will examine: older peoples' perspectives of care systems, focusing on dignity, investigating the potential for digital innovation that is person centred and exploration of gender issues in care to provide “crucial, urgently needed knowledge for sustainable and fit-for-purpose care that supports older people to live well”.

Professor Kathleen Galvin, the University of Brighton’s Professor of Nursing Practice and a former practising nurse, is leading the European research team which will employ 15 early stage researchers who will experience training placements across Europe in a range of nationally-leading care organisations, professional bodies, advocacy charities and technology development enterprises alongside their three year research projects.

Professor Kathleen Galvin

Professor Galvin said the network will:

• Critically evaluate existing care systems and provide analyses that make use of older persons’ insights
• Examine and offer a range of conceptual, empirical and methodological conditions to develop new innovations that offer dignity in care
• Provide an analysis of impacts of new care models on the wellbeing of older people
• Critically examine impacts of gender on care delivery, on the leadership of caring and science careers, and the care workforce to produce insights for sustainability.

She said: “Our aim is to address the European problem of how ageing people can live well within caring systems with a concentration on cross-disciplinary scholarship, producing an evidence base through 15 PhD investigations.

“We want to produce a next generation of leaders well versed in innovating care from standpoints within and beyond ‘healthcare’, sectors that engage technology, the public, and policy makers for the benefit of older people in Europe.”

Professor Galvin will be leading a team of experts who have forged the European Academy of Caring Science in order lead developments in care. They are from: Linneaus University (Sweden), University of Borås (Sweden), Bournemouth University, Birmingham City University, Nord University (Norway), University of Ioannina (Greece), Aarhus University (Denmark), Aalborg University (Denmark), in partnership with The Patients Association, The Royal College of Nursing, Dansk Sygeplejeråd  Forening (Denmark), Posifon Security (Sweden), University of Chester, Belong, ÆldreSagen Hjørring (Denmark), and KareInn.

Professor Tara Dean, the University of Brighton’s Professor of Health Sciences and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), said: “This is a significant European project and I am delighted the university is leading such an important transnational project. The project by Professor Galvin and colleagues will have significant impact on care of older adults.”