Extending Frailty Care Programme

Find resources and research to support Hospices' work with frailty care as part of the Extending Frailty Care grants programme

Find resources and information to support hospices to deliver frailty attuned models of care.

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What's on this page

What is frailty?

Frailty is a distinctive state of health that is related to the ageing process, in which multiple body systems gradually lose their in-built reserves [1].

People living with frailty often have additional multiple health problems including cognitive decline.

How does frailty affect older adults?

Living with frailty is different from living with one life-limiting disease. The trajectory towards end of life is more uncertain and typically includes episodes of acute illness and periods of full or partial recovery. 

Frailty is a cause of death in older people [2], [3], which means those with frailty are likely to form a significant proportion of people with palliative care need. People with frailty have a range of  needs that are responsive to palliative care interventions, but studies reveal they are less likely to receive palliative care than people with advanced cancer [4]. People with frailty are often underserved at end of life [5].

Why is frailty care important for hospices?

Hospices are uniquely placed to enable older people with advancing frailty to have a better quality of life, by responding to individuals’ needs and working creatively and holistically to deliver and support care.

Find out more by watching a recording of our conference session about frailty care.

Find resources and research to support Hospices' work with frailty care as part of the Extending Frailty Care grants programme

Frailty Care Community of Practice

Join us to share best practice around frailty and palliative care.

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Extending Frailty Care programme

Our Extending Frailty Care programme invites hospices to think differently and creatively to support high quality care for older people with frailty at end of life. It runs from April 2022 to March 2025.

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Programme overview

Watch Cat Sullivan, Senior Clinical and Quality Improvement Lead, Hospice UK, give an overview of the programme (this video was taken from a presentation to our Expert Reference Group, in phase 1 of the programme).

Click or tap the image to play the video.

Find out more about the Extending Frailty Care programme

Funded projects

As part of the Extending Frailty Care programme, we are funding 11 hospices to develop and deliver innovative models of frailty care. These models demonstrate and share effective ways of caring for, and working with, people aged over 65 who have advancing frailty.

The successful grant projects have now been confirmed. Find out more about their projects.

Project ECHO

All our grant funded projects will be participating in a Project ECHO Network, to share learning and support each other. We will be disseminating this learning regularly. 

Evaluation

We have also employed external evaluators to help us assess the impact of the programme. Find out more about our external evaluation.

Resources

Using the learning from the first phase of our Extending Frailty Care programme, we have developed some resources to support hospices deliver frailty attuned care.

Please contact Melanie Hodson, Head of Information Support, if you would like information about the literature reviews behind the programme.

Guidance on how to identify frailty, syndromes and acute presentations, and the variety of frailty assessment tools

Frailty: identification and assessment

Guidance on how to identify frailty, syndromes and acute presentations, and the variety of frailty assessment tools available.
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Engaging older people living with frailty with research

Engaging older people in research

Find out why it's important to include the voices of older people in your project, what the challenges are, and how you can successfully engage with them.
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This case study highlights the experience of someone who realised they were a 'carer' following a visit to the GP

Measuring what matters

On this page you'll find tools to help you explore and measure what matters for your patients, particularly those living with frailty and multiple conditions.
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Frailty – What’s in it for me?

Frailty - What's in it for me?

A session from the 2022 Hospice UK National Conference, looking at Frailty care
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A stock photo of a stethoscope with clinical paperwork

Quality Improvement

A key element of our work is supporting excellence in hospice care, ensuring hospices are fully equipped to provide quality care for patients and their families.
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Find out why collaboration has become more important to the health and care system, and look at some of the key considerations for forming a collaboration

Working together to influence local decision makers

Find out why collaboration has become more important to the health and care system, and look at some of the key considerations for forming a collaboration.
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Opportunities for improvement

Watch Anita Hayes, Head of Clinical Leadership, Hospice UK, outline the opportunities for improvement in frailty care (this video was taken from a presentation to our Expert Reference Group, in phase 1 of the programme).

Click or tap the image to play the video.

Useful sources of information

The following organisations provide information about frailty care that you might find helpful. The content and views expressed by these organisations do not represent the views of Hospice UK.

Carrying out research

Read our tips and guidance on carrying out robust research and development projects.

This guide gives you some quick tips on how to run a successful literature search in just six easy steps

How to do a literature search in 6 easy steps

This guide gives you some quick tips on how to run a successful literature search in just six easy steps.
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Find out how we will work with external evaluators to learn from the Extending Frailty Care programme

Evaluating our programme to extend frailty care

Find out how we will be working with external evaluators to understand the impact of our Extending Frailty Care programme, and learn as much as we can.
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Help shape the content of our national conference by joining the review panel, or becoming a mentor to support people who are less familiar with writing abstracts

Help shape the content of our National Conference

Help shape the content of our national conference by joining the review panel, or becoming a mentor to support people who are less familiar with writing abstracts.
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Kirby Laing Foundation logo

Extending Frailty Care Grants: Project Details

Find project details of grants awarded by the Kirby Laing Foundation to support the Extending Frailty Care programme.

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Kirby Laing Foundation

We would like to acknowledge the generous support provided by the Kirby Laing Foundation towards the Extending Frailty Care programme, without which the programme would not be possible.

Reviewed by colleagues in the Living and Dying Well Research Group, University of Surrey

This content was produced in collaboration with the Living and Dying Well Research Group at the University of Surrey.

References

1.    Clegg, A. et al. Frailty in elderly people. The Lancet. 2013; 381(9868):752-62.9

2.    Peng, Y., Zhong, GC., Zhou, X. et al. Frailty and risks of all-cause and cause-specific death in community-dwelling adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Geriatrics 2022; 22(725). 

3.    A statement from the BGS: British Geriatrics Society. End of Life Care in Frailty: Identification and prognostication. [internet] 2020 [cited 20 Feb 2023]

4.    Hamaker, M.E., van den Bos, F. and Rostoft, S. Frailty and Palliative Care. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care 2020; 10:262-264

5.    Stow D, Spiers G, Matthews FE, Hanratty B. What is the evidence that people with frailty have needs for palliative care at the end of life? A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Palliative Medicine. 2019;33(4):399-414. doi:10.1177/0269216319828650
 

Image: courtesy of In-Press Photography via The Centre for Ageing Better