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Horizon Europe Funding Award
Pioneering Dementia
On Thursday 29th February, University College Cork (UCC) hosted the “kick-off” meeting bringing together consortium members of the Horizon Europe funded “In-Touch” Project. Professor John Cryan, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at UCC, provided an opening address.
Dementia is the leading cause of disability and dependency in older adults affecting almost 8 million people in the European Union and is expected to nearly double by 2050 to over 14 million people. Many people with advanced dementia live in care homes, and many of them may have unmet palliative care needs.
In-Touch will run over five years from 2024 to 2028 and will establish a trial in 56 care homes across seven countries focussed on dementia palliative care including pain and symptom management, staff capabilities, polypharmacy and decision-making ensuring that residents with dementia receive optimal palliative care. The intervention being explored in this trial builds on the work of the previous EU Joint Programme for Neurodegenerative Disease funded “mySupport” project which developed a family decision support tool, now further complemented by the addition of a personalised multi-sensory activity component for people with advanced dementia.
The ambition is that In-Touch will enhance the lives of people with dementia living in care homes through a multisensory care programme approach to improve their dignity and quality of life, whilst also supporting their families in decision making.
Awarded €7.5 million in Horizon Europe funding, the In-Touch project is Coordinated by UCC Principal Investigators Professor Nicola Cornally (School of Nursing and Midwifery) and Professor Suzanne Timmons (School of Medicine). In-Touch further boasts an international consortium of 13 partners from across the EU, UK, and Canada. Representatives from all partner organisations, as well as patient and public representatives of people with dementia and family members, gathered in UCC last week.
The consortium members spent two productive days discussing the planned intervention and cluster randomised control trial, sharing ideas, and thinking together about the most effective strategy to complete this pioneering project.
Project stakeholders commented on the significance of this first consortium meeting:
Professor Nicola Cornally (Coordinator, UCC): “The kick-off meeting at UCC enabled the In-Touch consortium to come together and work through the research plans for this project over the next 5 years. Everyone was highly engaged and there was great energy over the 2 days which saw researchers, experts-by-experience, educators and practitioners discuss the methodological and ethical challenges and opportunities of implementing In-Touch in nursing homes across Europe. We are confident that this project will yield significant advancements in dementia palliative care research and practice”.
Helen Rochford-Brennan (Person living with Dementia and Patient Public Involvement representative): “It was an honour to participate in the follow-up session of the My Support study, now recognized as In-Touch, at University College Cork last week. The intersection of Palliative Care and dementia is an area which I feel is often overlooked, making this experience particularly enlightening for me as an individual living with Alzheimer's.
Engaging with researchers from seven different countries allowed for a comprehensive discussion on the challenges inherent in implementing research findings to effect meaningful change in long-term care settings. The potential positive impact on the quality of life for those receiving palliative care can be profound. Personally, I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity to contribute the perspective of someone living with dementia to the research process and collaborate with such esteemed researchers.”
Carmel Geoghegan (Former family carer and Patient Public Involvement representative): “When you connect with likeminded colleagues it’s magic, progressing mySupport study to now the In Touch project strengthens relationships, delighted to meet in person especially with our international PPI representatives.”
For more on this story, see:
· Web: https://palliativeprojects.eu/in-touch/
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/InTouchEU
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/in-touch-horizon-europe/