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A patient and occupational therapist out in the hospice gardens.

Our Blog

Helping you live with frailty

By Lucy Ashton and Holly Price

Published on: 22/09/2023

In this blog:

How to live with frailty

The world’s population is ageing – and an ageing population brings challenges for healthcare and medicine. As a result of gains in scientific knowledge, more of us can expect to live into late old age and in 20 years, the amount of older people with four or more diseases will more than double. That’s why we are thrilled to be one of 11 hospices taking part in an Extending Frailty Care programme, thanks to a £46,606 grant from Hospice UK. The money will enable us to trial a six-week Frailty Wellbeing Programme as part of our Living Well service, helping older people and their carers with the challenges that come with ageing and reduced mobility.

Planning for the future

Frailty is a distinctive health condition related to ageing, describing a general decline in function and reserve across multiple body systems. People with frailty may struggle with independent living, find everyday tasks more difficult, and experience a gradual reduction in social interactions.

Our catchment population, which includes people from Worthing, Adur, Arun and Henfield, is older than most hospices in the UK, which is why we were so keen to get involved with this initiative. Hospice care helps people to make the most of the time they have, and through this programme we aim to supply a toolkit to people living with frailty and their carers, enabling them to improve their quality of life and plan for the future.

Strength in community

Each session of the six-week course will focus on an aspect of frailty: fatigue; exercise; nutrition; emotional health; planning ahead and financial support. The session leaders will provide top tips and ideas on living with frailty and after the six-week programme, there’s the option to dip in and out of the Living Well service. If someone’s feeling socially isolated, they might like to come to a gardening or cooking class, for example. Those with reduced mobility may find one of the exercise classes useful.

This is a valuable opportunity for more people in our community to access hospice care, so they can keep living right up until the end.

Close up image of an older man in a blue jumper

How do I access the Living Well service?

In order to attend the programme, you have to be over 65 and identify as being frail, with the condition having an impact on your daily life. You can be referred by your GP, or you can sign up yourself by filling in the online form (there's also a telephone number if you'd rather speak to someone directly)

Refer yourself to Living Well

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