NHS England
The concept of frailty as a long-term condition brings with it the opportunity to adopt a much more proactive, person-centred, community-based approach to care.
Achieving this requires a new approach to care, particularly through supporting self-care. This new approach will be enabled through a wider awareness of frailty and a greater shared understanding of the condition.
The ‘frailty fulcrum’ is an animated model for frailty that has been developed with these opportunities in mind. This model aims to provide a ‘common language’ for frailty that can be shared between individuals, carers and professionals. It offers an interpretation of frailty that is meaningful, relevant and sustainable for people living with the condition, throughout their journeys of care.
The frailty fulcrum highlights the multi-dimensional nature of frailty. It considers the many different aspects of our lives that contribute to our overall wellbeing through a series of domains. The domains identified in the model are:
- Social environment, including our families, our friends, our communities, any of the people or places that are important to us.
- Physical environment, which is our homes in particular but also the many places that we visit as we live our lives.
- Psychological status, which includes both specific conditions, such as anxiety, or more general feelings like a loss of confidence or a lack of motivation.
- Long-term conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or respiratory conditions.
- Acute health problems, including for example, infections or injuries.
- Systems of care, which have a direct impact upon wellbeing, not just through the care that they provide, but also through the way in which they deliver that care.
Read the full article via NHS England
