Why we’re proud of our NICHE‑Leeds Virtual Care Home

by Peter Hodkinson, Managing Director of Westward Care and Chair of the Leeds Care Association. Westward Care are partners in NICHE-Leeds.

I am deeply committed to learning, innovation, and improving the everyday lives of our residents and staff. I am delighted to share the launch of our NICHE‑Leeds Virtual Care Home.

NICHE‑Leeds[1] – established in 2018 – is built on a simple but powerful belief: that care homes and researchers achieve more when they work as equal partners. For us, that partnership has been transformative. It has helped us make research meaningful, practical, and rooted in the realities of daily care. Most importantly, it ensures that residents remain at the centre of every question we explore together.

Our new Virtual Care Home brings this approach to life. It is an illustrated, fictional home where staff, residents, and researchers collaborate to drive improvement. The stories and resources within it are recognisable to anyone working in the sector – because they were shaped with frontline teams who understand what good care looks like and what gets in the way of delivering it.

The first theme embedded in the Virtual Care Home, mouth care, includes posters, leaflets, and an animation based on a NIHR‑funded study[2]. The tools that we have developed help staff build confidence, understand best practice, and appreciate the real impact that good mouth care has on residents’ health and dignity. For us, these resources are already strengthening practice and supporting professional pride among our teams.

Being part of NICHE‑Leeds has raised the profile of our organisation, enhanced our recruitment appeal, and deepened our culture of curiosity and learning. But more than that – it has shown our staff that their insights and experience genuinely shape research and change.

I encourage care providers across the country to explore the NICHE-Leeds Virtual Care Home. The resources are freely available, and I believe they will inspire many others, just as they have inspired us.

Visit the Virtual Care Home here: https://niche.leeds.ac.uk/home/virtual-care-home/

[1] NICHE-Leeds is a partnership between care organisations and universities in Leeds. Partners include Westward Care, Springfield Healthcare, HC-One and the University of Leeds, with Leeds Care Association, Leeds Beckett University and Leeds City Council.

[2] National Institute for Health and Care Research, Health and Social Care Delivery Research pprogramme funding award: NIHR131506

Caring Optimally: promoting effective Mouth MInuTes in care homes (COMMIT Study) – NIHR Funding and Awards