Worldwide, people are living longer with the number and proportion of older persons in populations continuing to increase. But, becoming older – at a population or individual level – needn’t be synonymous with becoming less healthy.
We lead on, and participate in, a range of collaborative research projects in the area of ageing. This research has an important role to play in helping to improve our understanding of the challenges and benefits of ageing well and the provision of health and social care to our growing population. Now, for the first time we have brought our studies together into an easily accessible collection.
PenARC Associate Professor of Ageing and Rehabilitation Professor Vicki Goodwin MBE, a clinical-academic physiotherapist specialising in the care of older people, in particular falls, fractures and frailty, said: “The Southwest has the oldest population in England with large areas of rural and coastal deprivation. These issues impact on the health and well-being of our population. PenARC leads and is involved in a considerable number of studies relating to Ageing. We are pleased to be able to bring them together into one place to showcase the excellent work that is going on.”
In addition, we are part of a consortium of NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) funded to develop a programme to improve the health and wellbeing of older people, the NIHR Healthy Ageing, Dementia and Frailty National Priority Research Programme.
The research programme, a collaboration between PenARC, NIHR ARC Greater Manchester, NIHR ARC Yorkshire & Humber and led by NIHR ARC Wessex, is focusing on the health challenges facing our growing older population. It supports three multi-regional projects that are as much about staying well as about finding better ways to care for and treat people in later life.
Together the consortium will work across the NIHR ARC network in England as part of the NIHR National Priority Area research programme. Professor Vicki Goodwin MBE is the Patient and Public Involvement lead for the programme and is working on a falls management exercise programme called the The FaLls EXercise Implementation (FLEXI) Study, to evaluate the scaling up of the ground-breaking Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme. Recently featured in a World Health Organization report, the FaME programme is a group-based, face-to-face, six-month exercise programme aimed at improving the strength and balance of people aged 65 and over. FaME was developed by Professor Dawn Skelton, Professor of Ageing and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University.
The University of Exeter WHELD project offers training to care home staff to improve the well-being and mental health of dementia residents. Dementia theme lead, Professor Linda Clare a co-prinicipal investigator on the project said: “Getting research evidence into practice is key to improving care, but challenging to do. These projects will make sure important research evidence is used to directly improve health and well-being for older people, including care home residents and people living with dementia.”
View our collection of Ageing Projects, showing just a sample of the ARC-aligned research into this increasingly important area of health.