This study looks to find a safe approach to stop or simplify insulin treatment in people who are over 70, have type 2 diabetes and are currently on insulin. Participating would involve gradually stopping/reducing insulin and using an alternative medication instead. This would be a tablet or a weekly injection depending on the participant’s choice. Blood sugar levels will be monitored by a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensor which would attach the participants arm.

For more information, please contact ylin002@dundee.ac.uk.

Clare Halpenny from Edinburgh University is looking to speak to residents about what their experience of moving into a care home was like and how they found the decision making process around this. Participation would involve a conversation with the researcher lasting 45-60 minutes. Ideally, participants would have moved into the care home within the last 12 months.

For more information, please contact clare.halpenny@ed.ac.uk.

WATCH (Widening Access to Trials in Care Homes) aims to produce best practice guidelines in recruitment of Care Home residents into vaccine trials. The guidance is being produced in collaboration with researchers, care home managers and ENRICH staff, amongst others.

People living in care homes are especially prone to infections and are more likely to become seriously ill when become infected. Many such infections can be prevented by safe and effective vaccines. However, vaccines are usually only tested in younger and healthier people, and we can’t be sure that they are just as safe, or work just as well, for people in care homes.

There are many reasons why vaccines are harder to test in people in care homes. For example, some people might have conditions like dementia which might make it difficult for them to give permission for research studies, and it might take longer for frail older people to provide answer to questions. Another example is that pharmaceutical companies may be reluctant to test their vaccine in people with multiple medical conditions as any flare-ups of the condition could be confused with side effects.

However, with the right guidance, all these problems could be overcome. Professor Roy Soiza from the University of Aberdeen and Professor Susan Shenkin from the University Edinburgh will be working with a team of expert researchers in the care home setting, and researchers with experience of running vaccine trials in hospitals to come together with people who work in care homes to discuss what all the barriers are, and how to overcome them. They will produce an expert guidance document that can be used by researchers to conduct these trials. The team will also volunteer to undertake vaccine trials during the project and attempt to recruit people from care homes in order to test out and refine the guidance further. 

This study is not currently looking for any participants but we will keep the website up to date with any further developments.