PALLDEM-Homecare
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PALLDEM-Homecare: Implementing a palliative care outcome measure to support homecare workers providing end-of-life dementia care
IRAS ID
360527
Contact name
Lesley Williamson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Around 90,000 people living with dementia in England receive formal social care, including homecare (help at home from a formal carer). Despite this, homecare workers often do not receive the support or training needed to help them provide good quality end-of-life care to people with dementia.
There are different tools available to health and social care staff to help them provide person-centred care. These tools measure the care needs that are most important to an individual patient and can help staff to manage symptoms and share decision making with the patient and their family. One of these tools is called the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale-Dementia’ or the “IPOS-Dem”. The IPOS-Dem can help health and social care staff to support the quality of life among people living and dying with dementia. It has been tested in different health and social care settings, but it has not yet been tested to see if it can be used in homecare settings.
We aim to test the use of the IPOS-Dem to see if it is helpful to homecare workers in assessing their clients’ needs and accessing the health and care support needed by working with the wider primary care team, including GPs and community nurses.
The project has three parts: 1) Co-design workshops to develop an implementation plan with homecare workers and managers, 2) Implementation trial of 12 weeks, evaluating use of the IPOS-Dem by homecare workers; and 3) Engaging with different community partners to promote the study findings, and raise awareness of dementia as a life-limiting condition and the vital role homecare practitioners play in supporting people with dementia who are nearing the end of life.
This IRAS application relates to second part of the project: the implementation trial.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
26/IEC08/0001
Date of REC Opinion
12 Feb 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion