On Wednesday 12th November, HC-One’s Adelaide House Care Home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, welcomed representatives from leading health and social care organisations as part of the VIVALDI Social Care visit, a national initiative exploring how research can transform the quality, safety, and experience of care for residents across the UK.
Attendees included experts and leaders from:
- Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- Care England
- University College London (UCL)
- NHS England (NHSE)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
- Social Care Nursing Advisory Councils (SCNACs)
- The Outstanding Society CIC
The visit formed part of an ongoing series of engagements under the Adult Social Care Engagement Collective (ASCEC), which brings together professionals, residents, relatives, and researchers to share insights and evidence from the sector.
Attendees from HC-One included Rebecca Condie, Area Director, and Anna Selby, Executive Director for Quality, who were joined by colleagues and residents from the home.
The event featured a welcome from Slawomir Janik, Home Manager at Adelaide House, followed by a presentation from the VIVALDI Social Care team outlining the project’s scope and achievements.
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at DHSC, reflected on the importance of the project before opening the floor for discussion.
The VIVALDI Social Care project, funded by UKHSA and NIHR, has now onboarded over 668 care homes, representing more than 36,000 care home beds, equivalent to around 8% of the adult social care sector.
The project will use the data to help providers and policymakers understand infection dynamics and best practice in care delivery, ultimately the aim is to reduce infections and improve lives of people living and working in care homes and have a positive impact on visiting.
Slawomir Janik
Home Manager - Adelaide House
“It’s an honour to host VIVALDI Social Care’s visit and to be part of a project that’s driving genuine improvement across social care. At Adelaide House, research is helping us to provide safer, more personalised care, and it’s inspiring to see so many organisations working together to make a difference.”
Vickie Longstaff
Head of Infection Prevention and Control at HC-One
“We’re delighted that Adelaide House could showcase the progress being made through the VIVALDI Social Care project. HC-One is proud to play a role in this important collaboration, which ensures that care decisions are guided by data, evidence and the real experiences of residents and colleagues.”
Professor Laura Shallcross, MBE
Professor of Public Health & Translational Data Science, UCL
“A wonderful day at Adelaide house demonstrating huge enthusiasm for research in social care and what can be achieved when the sector works in partnership with academics and policy makers.”
Zoe Fry OBE
Director of Nursing, The Outstanding Society CIC
“We were delighted to visit Adelaide House as part of the Vivaldi Social Care project and are grateful to the team for their warm welcome. We also extend our sincere thanks to Professor Lucy Chappel, DHSC Chief Scientific Adviser for joining us and for recognising the importance of this work.”
Professor Lucy Chappell
Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of NIHR
“It was wonderful to visit the award-winning Adelaide House Care Home to see strong partnership across Vivaldi Social Care research teams, the Outstanding Society, and those at the home – the residents, staff and support teams. “We saw how engagement, data and research can provide an evidence base to target care in areas such as prevention and early treatment of urinary tract infections, making a difference to the residents and families of those using social care.”
Kate Meacock
Camapigner, Rights for Residents
“As part of the Adult Social Care Engagement Collective, it was wonderful to visit Adelaide House in Walton-upon-Thames with the Vivaldi team. With a large representation of guests from across Social Care and the NHS the discussion and enthusiasm for the Vivaldi Project was enlightening. It is always, however, after the main presentation when getting to speak to the residents and their thoughts, do the really interesting questions come out and this time was not exception focusing on UTIs. “It was also fantastic to speak in more depth with those working in the home and the wider group about how they have implemented Vivaldi into the homes and the different ways in which they have kept residents and relatives informed of what it going on. A truly wonderful day. Thank you to all involved.”