Today, on World Parkinson’s day (Thursday 11^th April), the first ever national audit of Parkinson’s disease (PD) care in Ireland has been published by the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation. It shows areas of good practice, along with many areas for improvement in specialist PD care.

University College Cork (UCC) recently hosted the first ‘kick-off’ meeting for the €7.5m Horizon Europe funded ‘In-Touch’ Project bringing together consortium members from across the EU and Canada.

The In-Touch project is set to enhance the lives of people with dementia living in care homes through a multisensory care programme approach.

Congratulations to Dr. Emma O'Shea who has featured in national media, following the launch of the Evaluation of the Day Care at Home (DCAH) service report.

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) commissioned an evaluation, funded by the National Dementia Office, of the ASI's 'Day Care at Home' service. This was was undertaken by Dr. Emma O’Shea and Professor Suzanne Timmons in the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation at University College Cork in 2023.

Prof. Suzanne Timmons, along with UCC Researchers has been awarded €7.5 million in EU funding to help improve the quality of life of people with advanced dementia.

The 12^th Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN) Symposium took place on Thursday 7^th December at the Ashling Hotel in Dublin, hosted by the All Ireland Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. This year’s event focussed on ‘Implementation of Research for Evidence-Based Practice’.

A Special Interest Group (SIG) in Dementia Palliative Care was launched during the event. This Special Interest Group is chaired by Dr Siobhán Fox, Lecturer in the CGR. Expressions of interest for group membership can be made at the following link.

‘Best Application of AI in an Academic Research Body’ award at the Annual AI Ireland Awards, November 2023, for a research collaboration between Tyndall (Dr John Barton and Dr Salvatore Tedesco) and researchers at CGR (Prof Suzanne Timmons and Lorna Kenny).

Healthcare research with people in mind, click here to read Dr. Emma O'Shea's interview with HRB.

Professor Suzanne Timmons was invited to speak at a meeting of the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) in Helsinki from 20-22 September 2023.

Please click here to read about the achievements of CGR students, who took part in the meeting.

Please click here to find out more about the EuGMS Congress, 2023.

Click here to learn more.

New book chapter co-authored by CGR staff.

Professor Suzanne Timmons and Dr Siobhán Fox co-authored a book chapter in The Handbook of Clinical Neurology Series on Neuropalliative Care published by Elsevier.

Their chapter provides a comprehensive overview of Palliative Care in Dementia, discussing the key issues in providing palliative care for people with living with dementia and their families.

Reference:

Timmons, S. & Fox, S. (2023). Palliative Care in Dementia. In: The Handbook of Clinical Neurology Series on Neuropalliative Care: Part II. Kluger, B. & Miyazaki, J. (Eds). Elsevier.

Please log onto the project website pallcare4dementia.com to find out all about 'Developing a Palliative Care Model for People with Dementia in the Community - The Model for Dementia Palliative Care Project'.

In September, Lauren gave an oral presentation at the UCC College of Medicine and Health inaugural conference “From Molecules to People”. This explored what older adults and healthcare professionals might look for in a food product to promote the gut microbiota and support healthy ageing. 

Research Assistant Lauren O’Mahony presented a poster at the Nutrition Society Irish Section Conference in June, which was hosted at University College Cork. The poster highlighted some of our results on older adults’ and healthcare professionals’ perspectives of dietary influences and food preferences in older age in Ireland.

EMMA project – European Master on Active Ageing and Age Friendly Society hosted in Cork

The 68th IGS Annual Scientific Meeting took place virtually, on Thursday November 18th, 2021. The theme of this year’s conference was: ‘70 Years of Change (1951-2021)’. 

The PDRC, currently chaired by Prof. Suzanne Timmons, works closely with national and local Parkinson’s advocacy groups to establish research priorities, and to ensure that the research designed and conducted by the group is valuable to people living with Parkinson’s.

New Research Project - Caring for a family member with Dementia. This exciting new project is focused on factors influencing the sustainability of family caregiving for people with dementia, across Ireland.

Dr Siobhán Fox, together with Dr Caroline Kilty in the School of Nursing and Midwifery UCC, was awarded funding through a competitive tender process from the HSE to undertake a review of Diagnostic and Post-diagnostic Processes and Pathways for People with Young Onset Dementia.

Professor Suzanne Timmons was an invited speaker at the British Geriatric Society Spring meeting (virtual) on 28th April 2021, with a talk entitled "Palliative care for older people with Dementia ", based on our DemPall project www.pallcare4dementia.com.  

Two events took place in April where CGR researchers presented on PD research findings:

Professor Suzanne Timmons was an invited speaker at the Parkinson's Association of Ireland annual conference on April 10th 2021, and presented the results of patient views on current PD services in Ireland, from our HRB-funded Map PD project https://www.ucc.ie/en/pdrc/currentresearch/. 

 Dr. Emma O'Shea and Prof. Suzanne Timmons both spoke at the Cork Parkinson's Association Spring Conference on April 14th 2021. 

On 5th December, 2019, Minister for Health Simon Harris TD launched a new National Clinical Guideline on the appropriate prescribing of psychotropic medication for non-cognitive symptoms in people with dementia. 

A new research study aims to investigate the prevalence of Parkinson's disease, and also to map out service availability for people with Parkinson's across Ireland. 

Shortlisted at the gradireland Higher Education Awards 2019 - Postgraduate Course of the Year in Health Sciences and Best New Course

Dr. Suzanne Timmons, with Dr. Mark Rae from the Department of Physiology (centre of picture), at the recent launch of the UCC CiSA (COMH Interdisciplinary Seed Awards). Also included are Dr Michael Clarkson, CoMH VDR&I and Prof Helen Whelton, Head of College.

This year’s Irish Gerontological Society’s Annual and Scientific Meeting took place in Cork from 26th-28th September 2019.

Dr Suzanne Timmons contributes to the Lifestyle article in the Irish Examiner – read the article here

The 16th World Congress of the European Association of Palliative Care was held in Berlin, Germany, from the 23-25 May 2019. 

Dr Suzanne Timmons, Senior Lecturer and Programme Director of Masters in Older Person Rehabilitation and Dementia Programmes was an invited speaker at the St Lukes Annual Conference in May 2019. The theme of the conference was "Enhancing Quality of Life in Unrestricted Healthcare Environments".

Palliative care in Neurodegeneration, with a focus on Dementia:

Addressing complex questions through interdisciplinary research and reflection

May 2016, The Kingsley hotel, Cork 

Guidelines on the assessment and management of the palliative care needs of Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonian syndromes, were launched in University College Cork’s College of Medicine and Health on 26 April 2016.

Official launch of the ‘A Home for Life’ report

The report ‘A Home for Life: The Housing and Support needs of Clúid’s Older Tenants’ was officially launched by minister Kathleen Lynch at an event in Dublin on the 29^th October.

The report was led by Dr Siobhan Fox (Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation) in conjunction with colleagues across UCC: Dr Suzanne Timmons (Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation), Ms Lorna Kenny, Mr Joe Finnerty, Dr Cathal O’Connell (Applied Social Studies), and Dr Mary Rose Day (School of Nursing).

The full report can be accessed at: http://www.cluid.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/A-HOME-FOR-LIFE-FINAL-28-10-15.pdf

 Photo caption

Pictured (left to right): Mr Joe Finnerty, Dr Siobhán Fox, Mr Simon Brooke, and Dr Mary-Rose Day.

Dr Siobhán Fox was invited to discuss research from the Centre for Gerontology in Denver, at the University of Colorado.

Dr Siobhán Fox (pictured front row, far left) was recently invited to present and discuss her research in Denver, USA, at the “Palliative Care in Parkinson’s Disease Conference”. The event was hosted by the Department of Neurology, University of Colorado and took place from 3^rd-4^th October 2015.

Siobhán discussed the issue of outcome measurement in palliative stage Parkinson’s disease, an area that is receiving increasing attention internationally. The discussion was informed by the research currently being conducted in the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation which is led by Dr Suzanne Timmons.

Photo caption:

Dr Siobhan Fox (front row, first on the left) pictured with other speakers and attendees at the University of Colorado ‘Palliative Care in Parkinson’s Disease Conference’.

Northern Ireland Audit of Dementia Care

The first Northern Ireland Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals has recently been published, led by Dr Suzanne Timmons, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, University College Cork, and co-ordinated by Ms Emma O’ Shea.

For more details click on link Top EU Honour for UCC Project

For more details click on link

The paper is entitled 'Concept Analysis of Spirituality:  An Evolutionary Approach'

Congratulations to Dr. Siobhan Fox in the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, UCC upon receiving an award for best poster presented at the New Horizons Medical Research Conference.

Congratulations to members of our research team, Ms. Elizabeth Weathers, Dr. Nicola Cornally and Dr. Edel Daly who were awarded joint first prize for the poster presentation entitled 'Planning for End of Life: a Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials' at the recent 14th Annual Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery Conference in UCC.

Congratulations to our research staff, Emma O Shea, Ronan O Caoimh, Lorraine Scanlon, and Edmund Manning on the successful presentation of their abstracts/posters  at the IGS 62nd Annual and Scientific Meeting 2014 which took place on 9th-11th October 2014 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Galway.

Information: 

66 oral and 200 poster abstracts have been accepted for presentation at Our 62nd Annual and Scientific Meeting.  This year's meeting will be held by us in partnership with National University of Ireland, Galway & West/North West Hospitals Group.

Congratulations to Dr. Niamh O Regan, PhD student in the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, UCC who has recently received the Elsevier/Harold Prize for best publication in the International Journal of Surgery in 2013 for her paper on delirium in post-operative patients.

For more details click on link

Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation   -  

The following is a description of the conference highlights First National Conference on Dementia Care

INAD Report  INAD Report

An Observational study from Ireland raises the intriguing possibility that certain blood pressure lowering drugs, centrally acting ACE inhibitors, may help slow the cognitive decline that is a hallmark of people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

One-Day Research Conference entitled "Research into Practice" with international guest speaker Dr. Gordon Guyatt from McMaster University, Canada.  Click on his name (link) to view his biography.

For more details on the conference click on link Conference July 3rd

A two hour research related talk entitled "How to Become a Successful Researcher" was presented by international speaker Dr. Gordon Guyatt from McMaster University, Canada in Brookfield, UCC on July 2nd 2013.  Click on his name (link) above to view his biography.

For more details on the event, click on link July 2nd Talk

"Vera McGrath, Postgraduate Certificate in OPR graduate 2020 used her Principles in Older Person Rehabilitation Module assignment, to inform a successful bid for a Public Service Innovation 2020 grant for equipment to support upper limb rehabilitation post stroke. Well done to Vera, who recently presented her project at a Department of Public Expenditure and Reform ‘Inspiring Ideas’ webinar”

A new Irish Research Council funded research project has just commenced in the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation under PI Dr Emma O'Shea. 

This exciting new project is focused on factors influencing the sustainability of family caregiving for people with dementia, across Ireland.