Helen Lyndon

Open access
Equipping the healthcare workforce to meet the complex health needs of older people in the community: a skills-led approach

Equipping the healthcare workforce to meet the needs of older people in the community

Explore the benefits of a versatile, multiskilled workforce for the wider healthcare system

A nurse discusses a care plan with an older woman

How can I provide person-centred care for older people living with frailty?

Frailty is not an inevitable part of ageing and personalised care can help manage the condition

Frail senior

Reframing frailty as a long-term condition

Frailty is a clinical syndrome that focuses on loss of reserve, energy and wellbeing. Older people with frailty tend to present late and often in crisis to health and care services so their care may be hospital-based, episodic and unplanned. Frailty should be reframed as a long-term condition that can be managed proactively in primary and community settings by supported self-management and person-centred care. Nurses play a vital role as key workers, care co-ordinators and supporters to patients and their carers at all stages of the frailty trajectory.