A national surveillance study initially set up in response to Covid-19 has received government funding for a pilot scheme to monitor infections in care homes.
In October last year, Care England, University College London and The Outstanding Society established a new partnership to build on the study.
The Vivaldi social care project has now gained ethical and governance approval and secured up to £855,000 from the UK Health Security Agency for a pilot study involving more than 500 care homes in England.
The pilot will work with the care homes to monitor infections such as Covid-19, flu, norovirus, and urinary tract infections and analyse the anonymised data to help reduce infections.
Care England chief executive Martin Green said the pilot would ‘enable residents, families, care workers, providers, and wider stakeholders to work together and develop our understanding of how to reduce the impact of infections and outbreaks in care homes’.
The Outstanding Society director Zoe Fry said: ‘The collection of data plays a pivotal role in driving positive transformation within the sector, reflecting our commitment to research led by social care, for social care.’
