The Extending Frailty Care Programme invited 11 hospices to think in creative ways to support high quality care for older people living with frailty towards the end of their lives. It ran from April 2022 to March 2025.
A key aim of the programme was to test out these approaches and share our learning so that other hospices and health systems can replicate successful ways of working.
"I've met some absolute rockstars of the hospice world during this project.
The insightful knowledge that they have shared with us - you can't put a cost on that"
Andy Lowden, ellenor
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Participating hospices
Care home rehabilitation
Ellenor was awarded a grant of £49, 957.
They developed an outreach programme of seated exercise classes in care homes to help improve the strength and mobility of frail patients and reduce the number falls.
They set up a 24/7 clinical helpline to help care home staff support patients with frailty. They also provided education support to care homes in the Highlands of Scotland, covering topics ranging from difficult advanced planning conversations, to symptom management.
They developed an educational programme that was offered to hospice patients, people attending the hospice's Compassionate Cafes and the general public. It aimed to:
increase people's awareness of frailty risk factors
empower them to make necessary behavioural changes
St Michael's Hospice was awarded a grant of £37, 230.
They recruited a Frailty Care Connector to work alongside and support people living with severe frailty.
The Care Connector worked with people for 12 weeks, helping them to produce a personalised health and wellbeing support plan, and referring/signposting them to relevant community groups and statutory services.
St Barnabas Hospice was awarded a grant of £46, 606.
The hospice piloted a frailty pathway as part of their Living Well service. They established clear referral routes, triage, activities and access to wider support services. This helped link people with frailty and their carers to services that would support them to live well, stay independent at home for longer and make decisions about their care for the future.
St Catherine's Hospice was awarded a grant of £21, 275.
They collaborated with Leith Hill GP Practice to run a five week education programme for pre-frail and frail older adults. The sessions focussed on subjects that reduced the risks associated with frailty. They also invited local groups and services that supported ageing well to demonstrate or speak about what their group or service does.
St Christopher's Hospice was awarded a grant of £48, 648.
They worked with nine residential homes, GPs, Pharmacists, Age UK and members of the Croydon Integrated Care Network to better support people living in care homes' engagement with palliative care and promote living well.
They developed a new Frailty Lead role to provide education and training in palliative care to domiciliary care workers. They gave care workers access to a 24-hour helpline.
Through this project they were able to upskill domiciliary care providers with the information, skills and confidence they need to provide high quality palliative care to patients with frailty in their own homes. This also reduced incidents of unscheduled and emergency acute care for patients nearing the end of their lives.
Identifying and supporting frail people in prisons
Strathcarron Hospice was awarded a grant of £49, 957.
They focussed on supporting people aged over 65 who were experiencing frailty at HMP Glenochil. Populations in prisons across the UK are ageing and Glenochil houses an even higher number of older, frail people.
Working with the prison they used a screening tool to help identify, assess and support frail people.
Blackpool Community Extended Frailty Partnership (CEFP)
Trinity Hospice and Palliative Care Services was awarded a grant of £50,000.
The Community Extended Frailty Partnership (CEFP) is made up of the hospice, hospital and community frailty support teams. CEFP aimed to improve co-ordinated care for frailty in the community by responding earlier and closer to home to people's care and wellbeing needs. The CEFP targeted those patients with greater care needs and frailty risk by co-ordinating higher quality, bespoke support.
What is frailty? How is frailty measured? Why is frailty care important? Learning and resources about how and why hospices can and should deliver frailty attuned models of care.
