New Ageing and Frailty Standards published
- Area of Work: Policy and Research
- Type: News Item
- Published: 21st November 2024
Healthcare Improvement Scotland have published Ageing and Frailty Standards for the Care of Older People.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland have published Ageing and Frailty Standards for older people in Scotland. These standards update and replace Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Standards of Care for Older People in Hospital (2015). They apply in all settings where older people living with frailty receive health and social care. They provide a benchmark for progress towards nationally consistent integrated frailty services that put people and their rights at the centre.
Earlier this year, the ALLIANCE responded to the consultation on the Standards. The ALLIANCE broadly supported the proposed draft standards. However, we believed that changes were needed to the existing draft Standards and additional standards included. Among our recommendations, we suggested that the standards should also reflect the needs of unpaid carers, and reference health inequalities, waiting well, inclusive communication, data sharing and gathering.
The new set of standards promote positive, healthy and active ageing. In line with the principles of Realistic Medicine, the standards are underpinned by the following key principles:
- services should have a focus on prevention and early intervention
- people’s choices and what matters to them should be at the centre of discussions
- interventions should be the least intrusive or restrictive possible.
To meet the standards, organisations must ensure that people:
- have the care and support they need to maximise enjoyment of life
- have choice, autonomy and ownership of their life
- work in partnership to make decisions about their health and care based on what matters to them
- experience a palliative care approach that helps them to live well with deteriorating health.
Find the Aging and Frailty Standards for the Care of Older People here.
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