Pilot event to tackle frailty
Older people from in and around Cambridge City have been given support and advice to reduce their frailty and manage their risk of falls, thanks to a pilot ‘Stronger for Longer’ event hosted at Ross Street Community Centre in Cambridge.
Over 18% of the population in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Royston is aged 65 years or over. At the same time frailty is becoming a more common issue in the area, with between 25% and 50% of over 85s now thought to be frail to an extent. In South Cambridgeshire in particular, frailty is much more common among local people than the national average.
When left unmanaged, frailty can significantly increase the chance that someone has a fall. When someone falls, it often has a wider impact on their health – damaging their wellbeing and increasing the risk that they will need hospitalisation, taking them away from their communities and support networks. Modelling suggests that there will be a 52% increase in the needs for non-elective hospital beds due to people experiencing frailty by 2041.
To help address this challenge, Cambridge-based primary care teams taking part in the Integrated Care Fellowship programme set up a pilot event where people aged 65 or over could receive support from a range of experts to manage their frailty. People who were identified as being at higher risk of frailty were invited to attend by their GP practice. At the event people had a chance to discuss their needs and wellbeing with nurses, social prescribers, pharmacists and others.
With support from the South East Cambridge Integrated Neighbourhood, part of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care System, Cambridgeshire County Council, and Cherry Hinton Medical Practice, the pilot team was able to offer 70% of those attending access to opportunities to improve their health, such as a medication change, advice and support around healthy lifestyles or arranging follow-ups with charities or social prescribers to access support and activities in the community.
Kelly Gilders, Integrated Neighbourhood Project Manager working in Cambridge City, said:
“We’re pleased we’ve been able to work with local partners to offer people at risk of frailty the support and tools they need to help reduce their risk.
“Trips and falls are a significant cause of worsening health and wellbeing, so by reducing people’s risks of falling, we can help them stay well in their community for longer.”
Val Thomas, Acting Director of Public Health with Cambridgeshire County Council, added:
“We’re ambitious about empowering our residents to live healthy and independent lives for as long as possible. Working with local partners to reduce falls is key to that vision. We’ve been pleased to support Stronger for Longer – a programme designed to enable people to adopt healthy lifestyles to age well, stay safe and mobile and keep doing what they enjoy.”
Sophie Ladds, Service Delivery & Partnership Manager at Cambridge GP Network, said:
"We have been fortunate to have worked alongside the team to be a part of the Stronger for Longer project. The event meant that many patients were offered the chance to speak to a multitude of clinicians and organisations and they were given that "safe space" to be able to talk freely. The account given by one of our patients speak volumes as to how valuable the project was to him and others.
“We would not hesitate to be involved in any such projects again if the opportunity arose! A special thanks to all of the team involved as we know how much work went into the whole event."