New service to help frail people live independent lives
A new service has started aimed at supporting frail people to live independent and healthy lives out of hospital.
The new service run by a team of 8 Frailty Practitioners will coordinate the care of frail people so they can be supported to live independently at home. Using their advanced clinical skills, a comprehensive geriatric assessment will be undertaken to assess frail people’s needs and establish a plan of care to support them. In some instances this will include anticipatory future care planning. Medically, this work will be overseen by Dr Elena Mucci, Consultant Geriatrician.
Sue Lyne, Nurse Consultant for Frailty & Older People/Frailty Practitioner said: “This new service helps to support frail older people live independently at home, which many so want to carry on doing. The new service is very much wrapped around the needs of the patient with the frailty team working closely with the existing community and hospital workforce. We hope to reduce the number of frail elderly people in hospital who could be cared for more effectively in the community, or could avoid admission altogether with more robust preventative services in place.”
The Frailty team will develop specialist knowledge and links to resources available in the community to utilise these within care plans so that patients can remain within community settings, be discharged from hospital appropriately to live independently, for as long as possible, without the need for being readmitted to hospital.
