Long-term Care in Turmoil

The reformulation of the regulation of long-term care seen in the recent White Paper and Royal Commission in the UK has led to topical debates on long-term care for older people. Given that there are over 500,000 people in residential nursing and dual registered homes across the country, there has, until now, been remarkably little research on the role of managers in the long-term care sector, the various tasks they undertake in the day-to-day operation of a care home, and the qualities and qualifications they bring to their work. This study investigates the range of tasks which managers of long-term care homes perform, and the skills they should possess to do their work. The opening chapter reproduced here provides a critical analysis of the current confusion which besets UK policy on long term care.long-term care; aging

The distribution and dynamics of economic social wellbeing in the UK: An analysis of the recession using multidimensional indicators of living standards - Summary Findings

Living standards in the United Kingdom are typically measured using income as a proxy. Past research into living standards focuses on how living standards have changed over time, the extent to which there are in inequalities in living standards for different groups, and the impact of the recession on living standards. To date, little research combines economic and non-economic indicators to inform living standards. Multidimensional indicators of living standards (MILS) that go beyond disposable (net) income and expenditure or consumption as a proxy are able to capture a fuller picture of living standards and better inform policy making and research

Load analysis of ground-powering systems for electric vehicles

Dynamic conductive road charging involves the transfer of power into moving Electric Vehicles (EVs) using sliding contacts. The power transfer mechanism can be either installed from the top of the car using overhead conductors, conducting rails installed along the road-side or ground-level systems embedded in the road surface. The ground-level power system is the preferred option as it minimizes aerodynamic resistance compared to the other two as well as being designed for operation with vehicles of various sizes. In addition, existing technologies used in trams can be modified to provide ground-level EV charging systems. This paper investigates a ground-level system for EVs driving at high-speed on a motorway. It is based on the Tracked Electric Vehicle (TEV) project where EVs drive autonomously in a platoon with short inter-vehicle distance to reduce the overall air drag coefficient of the platoon. The paper investigates the optimum length and distance for the ground-level system. A Simulink model is developed for platoons of 10 EVs powered from a converter. It is shown that, for a platoon of 10 EVs driving with an inter-platoon distance of 50 m, a conducting-bar section100 m in length is the most efficient in terms of load variation and voltage stability

Primary frequency response from hydrogen-based bidirectional vector coupling storage:modelling and demonstration using power-hardware-in-the-loop simulation

To meet reduction targets for carbon emissions and improve the flexibility and security of the energy supply, future energy networks will require enhanced energy vector coupling in addition to the generation of energy from renewable sources. Increased renewable generation penetration significantly affects the electrical grid’s inertia and consequently the severity and regularity of frequency deviations from nominal values. Bidirectional Hydrogen-based Vector Coupling Storage (VCS) has been explored as a means to provide primary frequency response (PFR) services to the electrical network. This paper demonstrates the use of Power Hardware-In-the-Loop (PHIL) simulation and Digital Twin (DT) technique for such an application. This new suggested structure of VCS is composed of grid-scale electrolysers, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. Existing works focus on unidirectional VCS, and also use simplifications or neglect the impacts of power converters on the performance of the VCS. In addition, these works do not have any control over the hydrogen storage, therefore there is no guarantee that there will be enough energy available in the storage to meet the PFR service responsibilities. This paper presents the dynamic models of electrolysis, fuel cell stacks, and hydrogen storage as a DT. The key parameters affecting the behaviours of these main components are considered. The power converters’ accurate impact on the VCS’s performance is considered through PHIL simulations. The level of stored hydrogen is also considered in the VCS controller. The DT representing the VCS is integrated with the PHIL setup representing the deployment environment. The impact of VCS is then analysed as it propagates to the deployment environment. Results of the considered case studies demonstrate that the size of the VCS plays a significant role in bringing the frequency to the statutory allowed range. In addition, more VCS capacity was installed, the nadir frequency improved. Furthermore, the VCS is fast enough to offer PFR. The response times of the VCS were 2.857 s (during under-frequency periods), corresponding to the operation of the fuel cells, and 2.252 s during over-frequency periods, corresponding to electrolyser operation.</p