Frailty matters to us all

With an ageing population, a growing number of people now live with frailty, a condition in which multiple body systems gradually lose their reserves, resulting in deterioration from minor illness or events. Frailty is often recognised too late, when the older person presents in crisis.  Preventing frailty and managing it well enables people to live independently for longer.  As older people are the main users of health and care services, everyone who works with older persons, in any care setting, should understand how to prevent and manage frailty. 

This training will help you identify older people with frailty and understand what you can do, within the scope of your role, to improve their experience and outcomes.  

This course is well suited to anyone working within across the health, social care and housing, telecare or third sector and for unpaid carers.

 

Pre-requisites

There are no pre-requisites for this course but it is recommended that individuals are working with or supporting people who are living with frailty.

 

Brief overview 

What does the course cover?

Key topics include:

• Week 1: Learning Unit 1:  Principles of person-centred collaborative practice and Realistic Medicine
• Week 2: Learning Unit 2:  Identification and Assessment of Frailty
• Week 3: Learning Unit 3:  Managing those with Frailty
• Week 4: Reflection and action learning
• Week 5: Learning Unit 4: Holistic care planning, enablement and treatment escalation
• Week 6: Learning Unit 5:  Supporting family carers and signposting to community services and supports 
• Week 7: Learning Unit 6:  Leading in Frailty
• Week 8: Reflection and action learning

 

Learning outcomes 

By the end of this course, participants will be able to: 

• Demonstrate an understanding of frailty and the impact this has on the people living with frailty, their families and carers.
• Understand the approaches to managing frailty, working with the older person, their family and caregivers.
• Understand the importance of reablement, rehabilitation and recovery when supporting people who are living with frailty.
• Explore the principles of palliative care, including the principles of future care planning and treatment escalation planning when caring for people living with frailty.
• Recognise the key role of families and carers in supporting people living with frailty and the importance of collaborating with wider community services.
• Appreciate the role of leadership from self and others when working with people living with frailty, their families and caregivers.

 

Course format and delivery 

This course will be delivered using a hybrid approach of eLearning and online face-to-face sessions via MS teams on alternate weeks.  It is delivered over 12 weeks with the anticipated workload being 2 to 3 hours per week.

 

Assessment

There is no formal assessment but there will be ongoing case study development as participants work through the resource.

Although the materials are not specific to any SCQF level, there is the potential for students to complete an RPL style assessment, that could be tailored to individual participants academic level.

 

Course facilitators

Helen Rainey, Elaine Gifford, Dr Stephen Mullay, Dr Bryan Mitchell.

 

Guest speaker(s)

Prof Anne Hendry.

 

Fee

The course fee is £250.

 

Contact us 

Any questions relating to course content should be directed to helen.rainey@uws.ac.uk.  All general inquiries should be directed to cpd@uws.ac.uk.