The Frailty Unit at Forth Valley Royal Hospital recently celebrated its first anniversary and has provided high-quality care to 4616 local people from across the Forth Valley area over the last year.

The 23-bed Unit, located within the hospital’s Acute Assessment Unit, provides care for adults aged 65 years and over with a wide range of conditions and health issues linked to frailty – a recognised clinical condition, where the body’s reserves and resilience diminish over time, making individuals less able to recover quickly after an illness, infection or accident.

Patients admitted to the unit undergo a holistic assessment carried out by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals. This includes ageing and health consultants, frailty advanced nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists and therapy assistants.

Through early identification and screening, the team can intervene quickly and develop tailored treatment plans, helping to slow or even reverse the progression of frailty in many cases and achieve better long-term outcomes. The aim of this comprehensive approach is to ensure patients are supported to achieve individual goals and remain as active and independent as possible.

Although the service has only been operational for a year, it is already making a positive difference to local patients and their families. One recent example involved a patient with severe heart failure who was admitted to the Frailty Unit with increasing shortness of breath. She was reviewed by the consultant and started on medication to alleviate the symptoms of breathlessness. An assessment was then carried out by occupational therapists who arranged a package of care with local social work services with the patient’s daughter providing temporary support while this was put in place. The discharge team was involved, and an electrically adjustable bed was ordered for use at home to support greater mobility and independence. The patient was also referred to NHS Forth Valley’s Hospital at Home team for further monitoring and support and, with this coordinated approach, the was able to be safely discharged from the Frailty Unit the following day.

Andrew Norman, NHS Forth Valley’s Operational Manager for Stroke and Frailty, said: “Over the past year, the Frailty Unit has supported the earlier identification, timely assessment and more joined-up decision-making for thousands of older people across Forth Valley who require specialist care and support.

“The development of the Unit has been an important step in improving how we respond to the needs of older people arriving in hospital and ensuring their care is better coordinated from the outset.

“It has also helped improve capacity and flow across the hospital and improved patient experience by creating more opportunities for older people to be assessed, treated and discharged safely without the need for a long stay in hospital.”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank the many teams working across local hospital and community services who have all played a vital part in shaping and delivering this important service. The focus going forward to is to continue work to develop and embed the work of Frailty Unit across the week and strengthen links with community services.”

The development of the Frailty Unit also supports the delivery of the priorities set out in NHS Forth Valley’s Population Health and Care Strategy by preventing illness, reducing inequalities and delivering more care closer to home.