Funded through the Rural Health Innovation Fund of Welsh Government the research investigated the current nature, activity and extent of care farming in Wales; explored the actual and potential contribution of care farming to health and social care in Wales; and outlined the next steps for the development of care farming activity in Wales.
As a key element of Rural Health Week 2011, the conference “Rural Health Innovation: Sharing and Adopting the Learning” highlighted the innovative practice and achievements of rural health and wellbeing projects and initiatives that have taken place as a result of funding in Wales by the Rural Health Innovation Fund. The report and presentations are now available.
The Deanery in Cardiff University on behalf of Public Health Wales, commissioned the IRH to produce 10 case studies, based on the evidence, which reflect the challenges faced by GPs in dealing with employment related issues on a Wales wide basis. The case studies are being used as training for general practice but the report of the project includes a literature and the results of the methodlogy used to identify the main employment sectors in Wales, the major types of illness causing employment related issues and major challenges being faced by GPs when dealing with work related issues.
This action research project (funded by the Foundation of Nursing Studies) was in collaboration with Powys LHB Diabetes Specialist Nurses. The project implemented the action plans developed in the first phase in each of the three care homes involved in the project. Action was taken on issues such as diet (removing 'diabetic' foods from the menu); establishing annual reviews for care home residents; and providing education sessions for staff. The impact of the project was evaluated and ways of working which are transferable to other care homes were identified.
This research (funded by the Postgraduate Deanery of Cardiff Unversity) built on the findings of the research undertaken to contribute to the development of a Rural Health Plan for Wales and also some early research undertaken by IRH, using a Delphi study, to reach consensus on the work load of rural GPs and a research project on the Nature of Rural General Practice.
The aim of this proposal was to identify the additional skills and knowledge required by a general practitioner in order to work in rural Wales and addressed the following questions:
The research undertaken by IRH to support the development of the Rural Health Plan in Wales has now been published and accompanies the publication of the consultation document "Rural Health Planning - Improving service delivery across Wales".
The IRH project sought to answer the following three questions:
Information was collected through a review of published data, a review of the literature and a review of examples of good practice.