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This conference focuses on the important issue of transforming acute care for people with frailty: improving the quality of care for people with frailty and supporting them to stay out of hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. Redesign of acute frailty services is crucial to meeting increasing demand and improving the quality of life for older people.
“Too many older people with frailty suffer needless harms as a result of unplanned hospitalisation, long waits in A&E, long stays, and poor co-ordination of care. Many are approaching the end of life, when their needs and wishes should be understood and respected, something which has come into sharp focus during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“Within hospitals there is much we can do to improve quality and safety of care for older people living with frailty”
“It is essential that older people living with frailty can access proactive, joined-up care which is tailored to their individual needs and aspirations. While there are examples of best practice happening across the country, we know that there is inconsistency, leading to poor health outcomes and avoidable admissions to hospital. That’s why we at Age UK have long called for better identification, treatment, and management of frailty”.
“Older people living with frailty end up in hospital disproportionately. Pre-Covid, Between 5% and 10% of all those attending A&E and 30% of patients in acute medical units were older and living with frailty. There were more than 4,000 admissions daily for frailty, most coming through A&E. Many of these admissions are for reasons such as falls, minor infections and reactions to medications, that would not require admission without frailty. Once admitted, they are at high risk of longer length of stay, which increases the risk of deterioration, leading to increasing immobility, declining function and reduced life span. Frailty is a growing challenge that cannot be solved by secondary care alone. It requires comprehensive whole-system solutions that wrap around people, from the home to the care home and the hospital, focused on preventing progression of frailty and supporting people to live well outside of hospital.”
This conference will enable you to:
- Network with colleagues who are working to improve acute care for frail older people
- Learn from outstanding practice in developing dedicated frailty services
- Reflect on national developments and learning from Covid-19
- Update your knowledge on the recent GIRFT Report in Geriatrics and the recommendations for frailty
- Improve the way you support people with frailty during and beyond Covid-19
- Develop your skills in identifying and diagnosing frailty
- Understand how you can improve the response to emergency admissions
- Identify key strategies for preventing unnecessary hospital admission
- Learn from the delivery of a frailty improvement programme in acute care
- Understand how you can use the Specialised Clinical Frailty Toolkit to improve practice
- Explore priorities and challenges in meeting the BGS End of Life Care in Frailty Guidance
- Ensure frailty presenting as falls is effectively identified and managed
- Improve prescribing and reduce polypharmacy
- Reflect on how we can reduce delirium in people living with frailty, or as a symptom of Covid-19
- Self-assess and reflect on your own practice
- Gain CPD accreditation points contributing to professional development and revalidation evidence
