About us

Welcome to the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce (HSCWRU) exists to develop research knowledge in the health and social care workforce field and to disseminate findings to policymakers, service providers, employers, and patient, service user and carer groups.

HSCWRU is an NIHR Policy Research Unit. Core funded by the NIHR’s Policy Research Programme (PRP), we also receive grants following competitive tender from a variety of other funders. We are affiliated with the NIHR School for Social Care Research and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London.

The Unit was established in January 2019, growing out of a policy research unit dedicated solely to the social care workforce, which ran from 2002-2018. As well as publishing widely in the academic press, the Unit is the base for Making Research Count London, which engages directly with the practitioner community. We also run a broad range of events for practitioners, policymakers, members of the public, and academics in the field.

The Policy Research Unit's Senior Management Team brings together expertise from the Business School, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, and – beyond King's – from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Imperial College London. The Unit's Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Advisory Group is chaired by Valerie Lipman.

Unit news, events and Twitter

6 June 2023

Gloria's Law: meeting with MPs and campaign groups at Portcullis House

A bill was introduced in the House of Commons today to make visiting care settings a legal right.

2 June 2023

Latest article from Unit's easements study

Why did some local authorities choose not to use easements to the Care Act 2014?

14 Jun

Margaret Butterworth Care Home Forum June 2023

14 June 2023

Mealtimes. Virtual International Care Homes Trials Archive.

Tweets by NIHR Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit

Featured research: Studies focusing on self-neglect / hoarding behaviours

Self-neglect and hoarding among older people

How should Adult Social Care best respond?

Decluttering the homes of people with hoarding behaviours

Investigating the role of professional decluttering services.

Training for professionals working with people with hoarding behaviours

A study building on two earlier NIHR SSCR funded projects.