Building Capacity for Evidence-informed Practice in Rural and Remote Island Social Service Delivery
Local authorities have a major contribution to make to meeting the care needs of the estimated 69,000 people with dementia in Scotland. Developing home and community based social services in remote island and rural areas is particularly challenging due to large distances, difficulties in recruiting and retaining skilled staff, poor transport and resistance to change. In this project, researchers from the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute and the Scottish Agricultural College are working with staff in Orkney Islands and Scottish Borders Councils to generate evidence about designing sustainable, high quality care at home for people with dementia and their carers.
Project activities and outputs include:
- Research synthesis of evidence and expert opinion on the ‘state of the art’ in dementia care at home in rural and remote island areas
- Placements of local authority staff and researchers in each others’ organisations to share skills and knowledge
- Seminars exploring the results of the research with multi-agency practitioners
- Capacity building through knowledge exchange, a ‘knowledge for practice’ training programme in research skills and practical experience of using new skills
- Improvement plans for dementia care at home in Orkney and Borders, using all of the evidence generated during the project
Project Team: Jane Farmer, Kate Skinner and Ann Clark (UHI Millennium Institute); Sarah Skerratt (SAC), Joan Mitchell and Lynda Bradford (OIC); Elaine Torrance and Jane Robertson (SBC).
Lead Institutions: UHI Millennium Institute, Inverness; Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh
Project Partners: Orkney Islands Council and Scottish Borders Council.
All materials from the project will be posted on the Centre's website.
Project contact: ann.clark@uhi.ac.uk.
