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Dr Heather Wilkinson
CRFR Co-Director
h.wilkinson@ed.ac.uk |
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| Biography
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Heather is Director of Research
and Knowledge Exchange, School of Health in Social Science
and Co-Director of CRFR.
For further information, please see
www.health.ed.ac.uk/staff/profiles/heather-wilkinson.htm
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Research interests |
I have several key
areas of research interest within an overall focus on the experience
of people with dementia and improving the care experience. My
interests have developed from a focus on issues of inclusion
and quality of life for people with dementia and for people
with learning disabilities and dementia. Theoretically I am
interested in models of inclusion and social justice for significantly
marginalised groups and have been involved in Scottish Adults
with Incapacity Legislation and reforms. I am actively involved
in developing methods for including people with dementia in
research and policy and I was a member of the working group
that recently prepared the Scottish Dementia Strategy. This
work also relates strongly to the increased focus on knowledge
exchange and, in particular, the work of my Connect in Care
and night time care projects have achieved a number of outcomes
in this area. The increased successes in these areas
of work have allowed me to develop case studies around impact
grounded in theories of knowledge exchange and more practically
in relation to the forthcoming REF. I have involvement in a
range of research grants and with different policy and practice
groups. I am active in the fields of dementia, disability, gerontology
and social policy at national and international levels. |
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| Current
CRFR projects |
Improving
the care of older people
Underlying my research career has been the aim of improving
the care of older people through
developing better understandings of methodological and personal
perspectives. This approach has
recently become a more visibly funded strand in my programme
of work through the Connect in Care
project which is now in a dissemination phase based on a practice
development pack and CDrom that
was developed to pull together the various strands of work
from across the last 3 years (funders: NHS
Education for Scotland, NHS Quality Improvements Scotland,
in partnership with the Scottish Care
Commission). This has provided a significant knowledge exchange,
practice development and networking
opportunity. My contribution in the field of care for older
people has also increased the profile of CRFR in
the area of families, relationships and older people and the
profile of the School of health in Social
Science through my role in the development of the NHS Lothian
NMHAP Framework for Career
Development.
Night time care
The night time work arose from a wider interest in improving
the care of older people. A research project
funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has provided
a wealth of material that is now being disseminated and worked
with over two year period. This work has been funded by an
additional £30,000
from JRF. The research findings uncovered an important area
for practice development and some of the dissemination has
focused on producing materials, including a set of posters
and a postcard, as well as
a short piece of drama (‘Just checking’ with Forum
Interactive) that has been used at dissemination events. The
impact of this work has been, and continues to be, considerable
at a policy and practice level.
The working group established towards the end of the project
to involve representatives from each of the
UK care regulatory bodies resulted in significant changes
and additions to regulation and inspection policy guidance/practice
e.g. the Care Quality Commission (England and Wales) has adopted
a checklist developed by the Working group for use by all
care home inspectors. This in turn has influenced direct practice
during the night in care home settings across the UK. Publications
around this work are
particularly focused at practitioner and policy makers. A
book drawing on this work will be published by Jessica Kingsley
Press in October 2010 and will be launched at the major UK
dementia conference.
I have also been asked to speak at a number of events and
conferences on this topic.
Empowering people with dementia
Central to all my research over the last ten years has been
the exploration of how to better engage and include people
with dementia in research, policy and practice. The study
completed for the Mental Health Foundation in 2000 was one
of the first pieces of funded and published work to include
people with dementia as research participants. My edited collection
in 2001 was also a seminar piece of work challenging the exclusion
from research people with dementia. Since then I have been
heavily involved
in a number of funded projects, and in supervising post graduate
students, where the work is centred on including people with
dementia, thereby developing both theoretical and methodological
understandings that have extended the scope and field of dementia
research. I was the founder member of the Scottish Dementia
Working Group which is now an independent organisation representing
people with dementia
in Scotland. The most recent development in this area is my
involvement in the NIHR Network grant held
by the University of Manchester on Dementia and Personalisation.
Aging with a learning disability
Building on my practice and research background in the field
of learning disability, I have a body of work
that has developed over the last ten years that focuses on
aging with a learning disability. Much of this
work has a particular health focus and an example of this
is the current work funded by the CSO on access to acute care.
I have extensive and longstanding international networks in
the field of aging and learning disability including my role
as co chair in IASSID and my visiting fellowship at the Institute
for Basic Research on Developmental Disabilities, in New York.
I usually spend time at this Institute annually, in
both a clinical and research setting, and have done for since
1999. I have a current JRF funded project
to develop a practice development pack (including a DVD) for
front line workers and I am leading on
several collaborative grants now being developed in this research
area.
Active grants
Dept of Health Healthbridge: national evaluation
of the English Dementia Strategy Implementation
Sites (PI is Prof Charlotte Clarke, Northumbria University)
April 2010 – Sept 2012
NHS Health Scotland Dementia Dialogues – a DVD for people
with dementia April 2010 – March 2011
University of Edinburgh KE fund + NHS Lothian, Queen Margaret
University and Napier University
funding to support a Bootcamp for research capacity development
April 2010 – Jan 2011
ESRC Local Authority Programme ESRC Local Authority Programme
- Engaging with Involuntary
Service Users in Social Work Oct 2009 – Sept 2010
NHS Lothian NHS Lothian extension to Joint Post Secondment
2009 – 2010
ESRC Engagement Event: Creating Innovative Exchange Across
Dementia Theory,
Practice And Policy: Translating Dialogue And Experience (with
Sarah Morton). Sept 08 - Sept 09
Edinburgh University Knowledge Exchange Creating Innovative
Exchange Across Dementia
Theory, Practice and Policy. July 08 - July 09
Health Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council. 'Good Ideas':
supporting care work for
housebound older people (based in COPA). Feb 08 - April 09
Scottish Government Review of the Nutritional Needs of Community
Dwelling Older
People (based in COPA). May 08 - January 09
NHS Lothian/NES Joint post - knowledge exchange on values
based practice.
May 08 - June 09
Burdett Trust for Nursing Research The development of an enhanced
role for community
nurses working with people with an early diagnosis of dementia:
a collaborative action research
project (Co grantholder with Dr Dot Weaks and Prof John McLeod,
Tayside Institute for Health
Studies, School of Social and Health Sciences, University
of Abertay). Feb 08 - June 2010
Read the summary
Read the Report
Chief Scientist Office Impact of the Learning Disability Liaison
Services on health experiences
and outcomes of people with learning disabilities attending
for general hospital care (PI with
Juliet McArthur, NHS Lothian). Feb 08 - July 09
Joseph Rowntree Foundation Dissemination of night time care
project. Dec 07 - July 09
Joseph Rowntree Foundation Development of UK Care Commission
Working Group
on night time care. April 07 - July 09
NES & NHS QIS with Care Commission Provision of learning
and practice development
network across Scotland for nurses working with older people.
Feb 07 - Jan 2010
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| Past
CRFR projects |
Northumberland Strategic Health Authority
August - December
2006.
Development of intranet materials on end of life care for people with a
learning disability.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
April 2006 - November 2007
Exploring
night time care for residents of care homes
Centre for Integrated Healthcare
Research
October 2005 - February 2007
A pilot evaluation of DISDAT pain tool in acute care settings for adults
with profound learning disability.
(With Michael Brown, Consultant Nurse Learning Disabilities,
NHS Lothian)
Burdett Trust for Nursing
February 2005 - July 2007
An international
network to problematise 'wandering'.
(With Jan Dewing RCN & Prof Brendan
McCormack, Uni of Ulster)
Community Fund
August 2003 - July 2007
Developing best practice
for supporting people with learning disabilities with dementia to stay in their
own homes.
(With CARE)
University of Northumbria
February 2005 - January 2006
To
support an international network on aging and learning disability.
SHEFC Promising Researcher Scheme
April 2005 - July 2006
To
spend 6 months in New York to develop existing international collaborations
in the field of learning
disability and dementia.
University of Albany, USA
January - December 2005
A feasibility
study exploring the use of PEG feeds in people with a learning disability and dementia.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
July 2004 - October 2005
Pain Management
needs of older people who have learning disabilities and dementia.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
April 2004 - April 2005
Top Tips
for Staff ProvidingSupport to people with a learning disability and dementia -
an information pack.
ESRC Seminar series
April 2005
Ethics of Care: Implications
for Research, Policy and Practice.
McKie L, Bowlby S, Hopkins D, Hughes
B, Watson
N and Wilkinson H
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