Professor Barbara Hanratty, Professor Louise Robinson, Dr Rachel Duncan, Dr Katie Brittain, Dr Rachel Stocker, Professor Heather Gage, Professor Karen Spilsbury, Professor Fiona Matthews

General practitioners provide front line medical care for care homes, and the people who live there are often a GP’s most complicated patients. Most residents are old; many are frail and living with at least one medical diagnosis, including dementia. Information on the health of care home residents is not collected as a routine, but some research suggests that the quality of health care provided for care home residents may not be as good as the care given to older adults who live in their own homes.

Finding the best way of organising GP services for care homes is important now, to make sure residents get appropriate, high quality care. With the number of people in care homes predicted to rise rapidly over the next twenty years, it will be more and more important that services are well organised and good value for money.

This research study aims to identify ways of organising GP services for care homes that produce good health outcomes for residents at lowest cost. I will also take into account the views of residents, relatives and staff in general practices and care homes.

Researchers in the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University are working on this study with colleagues at the University of Surrey and Leeds University.

The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research via their Health Services & Delivery Research funding programme.

At the end of the study, we will have a better understanding of which of the different ways that GPs work with care homes are better than others for residents, staff and the public purse. Improving the experiences and outcomes of care home residents is our overall goal.

As the project develops, the research team will share their work via this blog. Please revisit us, sign up for email alerts or follow us on Twitter @CareHomeRsch or if you have any comments or suggestions you could email us at carehomeresearch@newcastle.ac.uk.