University College London (UCL), Care England and The Outstanding Society (OS) have established a new partnership with the aim of reducing the impact of infections and outbreaks in care homes.
Together with care home staff, residents, family members and providers, we have coproduced a plan for a 12-month pilot study. The study will use data that the NHS and public health agencies routinely collect to measure levels of common infections in care home residents and will generate an anonymised database that can be used for research. 

Importantly, we are not seeking individual-level consent from residents for participation, but they can opt out of sharing their data. 

This approach has been approved by the Health Research Authority Confidentiality Advisory Group (HRA CAG).
Coproduction of the study highlighted that it is essential for the care sector to retain control over how the data can be used and that we must prioritise outputs that address the priorities of people who live and work in care homes.