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NIHR Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty/Healthy Ageing

Answering questions to promote healthy ageing and inform government health and social care policy and practice.

 

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What we do

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty / Healthy Ageing* aims to produce timely, high-quality evidence for policymakers. We are a collaboration between The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and the London School of Economics.

Our aims are to answer policymakers’ questions and help the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and its arm’s-length bodies (such as the National Health Service and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) make informed decisions on new and emerging policy needs related to the health and wellbeing of people aged 50 and above living in England.

The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty / Healthy Ageing is part of the NIHR. NIHR PRUs are composed of experts and researchers who undertake policy research providing evidence to support national policy making in England.

The NIHR awarded £100 million over five years to 20 PRUs across England that provide evidence to respond to new and emerging policy needs. For more information and links to other PRUs, visit the NIHR website.

* The NIHR Policy Research Unit Older People and Frailty is changing its name to the NIHR Policy Research Unit Healthy Ageing as of 1st January 2024, and will be setting up a new web presence to reflect this. To help make the transition smoother, we will refer to both names on this website until the revised URL and site is launched later this year. We continue to be the same collaborative partnership and will seek to build upon and expand our research portfolio over the past five years and into the future.

 

 

 

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Projects

Learn about our work in specific areas of health and care for older people.

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Rapid responses

See our responses to requests from the Department of Health and Social Care and other bodies.

 

 

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COVID-19 research

View our research into the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare for older people.

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Themes and methods

Learn about our research themes and the methods we use in our projects.

 

 

Meet the team

Our team comprises research and administration staff from The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and the London School of Economics.

Chris Todd

Chris ToddDirector of Policy Research Unit (Manchester) and Theme Lead for Ageing, Frailty and End-of-Life-Care

Read more about Chris’s research

Barbara Hanratty

Barbara HanrattyDirector of Policy Research Unit (Newcastle) and Theme Lead for Long Term Care

Read more about Barbara’s research

Martin Knapp

Martin KnappAssistant Director of Policy Research Unit (London School of Economics)

Read more about Martin’s research

 

 

 

Get involved

Input from older people is important in all of our research projects.

Get in touch with us to find out how to get involved in our work, and about opportunities with other organisations.

Email: pru-manager@manchester.ac.uk

 

 

Contact us

Get in touch if you’d like to know more.

If you would like to ask any questions about our work, please get in touch:

Email: pru-manager@manchester.ac.uk

 

 

This research is funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty (funding reference PR-PRU-1217-2150). As of 01.01.24, the unit has been renamed to the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Healthy Ageing (funding reference NIHR206119). The views expressed on this website are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

 

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