Care home interviews in Scole to help dementia project

A care home at Scole, near Diss, is taking part in a £3m research project aimed at improving the quality of life for people with dementia.

Residents, their relatives and staff are being interviewed at Kingsley Healthcare-run Oaklands care home as part of a major national study called MARQUE – Managing Agitation and Raising Quality of Life – which is led by researchers at University College London.

The project, funded by the research arm of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Economic and Social Research Council, has been launched in response to the prime minister's Challenge on Dementia, which aims to ensure compassionate care for every person with dementia and an improved quality of life for their families and carers.

Senior research nurse Juniper West has carried out more than 60 interviews at Oaklands for the study, which is running in 97 care homes nationally.

She said: 'Everyone taking part is doing so on a completely voluntary basis. Part of the study involves asking standardised questions to assess a resident's quality of life – are they cheerful, worried, lively, irritable? – and repeating the questions over a period of 16 months.'

Helen Gosling, manager at Oaklands, many of whose elderly residents have dementia, said: 'If this project leads to successful outcomes it will be enormously important.'

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