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Dr James Faraday

 

Dr James Faraday is a Speech and Language Therapist and a Clinical Educator supporting Newcastle’s Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals though the multi-layered research landscape.

He is an Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Dementia Fellow with a Dementia Career Development Award funded by the ARC NENC and the NIHR Three Schools Dementia Research Programme. This type of fellowship falls under the NHIP Academy NMHAPS Pillar. He is also a driving force behind the NHIP Academy PCAF Community events, that supports and equips individuals at any point on the ‘PCAF Pathway’.

Dr Faraday is currently leading on a research project titled Improving mealtimes for people with dementia: Feasibility study.

The purpose of Dr Faraday’s research is to provide care home staff with better training in mealtime care. This will ultimately help people with dementia to have an improved quality of life and to stay healthy by reducing the risk of problems such as malnutrition and pneumonia. It is anticipated this would result in more cost-effective use of clinical resources and reduction in unnecessary hospital admissions. Not only this, but it should assist staff to feel empowered in their job, and provide greater reassurance for residents’ families.

Commenting on his research, Dr Faraday said:

“Through my clinical work as a Speech and Language Therapist, I became very interested in the way that people with dementia experience mealtimes. From spending time in care homes, I learned that care home staff were doing a very important and challenging job and I wondered if there was more we could do to support them, for instance, by providing better training.

“On the back of this, I developed a training programme to help care home staff care for people with dementia at mealtimes. The training programme is based on relevant evidence and was co-developed with experts by experience. This study will test the training programme in care homes, to check that it is acceptable and practicable. I will deliver the training in several care homes, assess its impact on staff, and explore staff’s views on the format of the training, so that we can ensure it is fit for purpose.”

For Dr Faraday to conduct his research, he must stay connected with a multitude of individuals to achieve the best possible results. Commenting on how he stays in the know, he said:

“I found out about NHIP Academy through the research capacity building work I do at Newcastle Hospitals. The Academy is a great source of support in providing networking opportunities and I take full advantage of these opportunities to stay connected with other healthcare professionals.”

As this research project is underpinned by extensive patient and public involvement, Dr Faraday also receives valuable input and advice from organisations like the North East Dementia Alliance, VOICE, family carers of people with dementia and care home staff.

The importance of research

Newcastle is a centre of research excellence and delivers world-class, multidisciplinary research. Dr Faraday expresses his view on the importance of research:

“Health and care outcomes are better in settings where there is an active research and development programme. Clinicians are at the heart of patient care, so they are ideally placed to identify problems that need to be solved and questions that need to be answered. A workforce that’s engaged in research leads to better patient outcomes.”

Dr James Faradays’ advice

“My main advice about funding applications is to get some help. This will typically mean finding a mentor who can guide you through the whole process. You will also need to identify a supervisory team with the skills and time to support your application and your research.

There are plenty of experts who can assist you with specific aspects of your application, for example, experts in methodology, budgeting, patient and public involvement and so on. It is important you seek this help to maximise your chances of success.”

If you are interested in unlocking your research career pathway, please contact nhip.academy@newcastle.ac.uk

For more information on the NHIP Academy, please visit: https://www.newcastlehealthinnovation.org/training-and-education/nhip-academy/