A hospital team are celebrating 10 years of protecting the independence of older people, helping them to stay out of hospital and in their own homes.
Dr Kirsten Richards, Consultant in Frailty Medicine, set up the multidisciplinary Frailty Intervention Team (FIT) in 2016 to stop older people spending too long in Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.
The specialist team of consultants, nurse practitioners and therapists has become a vital part of frontline NHS services, helping around 70pc of older people go home instead of being admitted to hospital unnecessarily.
FIT, led by Dr Richards, has attracted national attention regarding the care of older people and has been the catalyst for the creation of the Frailty Assessment Beds (FAB) and Frailty Same Day Emergency Care (FSDEC), both at Hull Royal Infirmary.
Dr Richards said her motivation remains ensuring hospital admission is kept for our sickest patients, allowing people to go home with the correct support and treatment in place wherever possible.
“I’m very proud of all the team has achieved in the past decade,” Dr Richards said. “And we keep doing what we do because of the patients we see every day.
“Going home is what our patients tell us they want so that’s our aim – to get those well enough out of hospital and back to their own homes.”
The consultant-led service operates Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, with nurse practitioner and therapists on duty on Saturday to Sunday with access to consultant support.
FIT supports Frailty Admission Beds (FAB) on the ground floor of Hull Royal Infirmary, which was opened in 2023 and takes patients from both ED and directly from GP referrals. Patients with frailty, sick enough to need to be in hospital, go for FAB for tests and assessments first before they’re transferred onto a ward.
And, more recently, the Frailty Same Day Emergency Care has also been introduced at Hull Royal Infirmary for an eight-week trial. Originally an area of ED with space for four beds and a chair, it’s moved to Ward 1 on the first floor of Hull Royal Infirmary with eight assessment spaces. FIT identifies patients from ED and the Acute Medical Unit who may be suitable to be seen on FSDEC before going home the same day.
Dr Richards says getting patients home as quickly as possible minimises the risk of “deconditioning” linked to hospital stays, which can affect people’s mobility, increase their risk of infection or falls and increase the likelihood of future admissions.
“I’ve had patients who’ve been in hospital for four to six weeks, who came in, fully independent,” Dr Richards said. “But because they’ve lain in bed for weeks, their muscles have wasted away.
“That has a massive impact. It is the difference between living an independent life or having to go into a care home.
As part of her plans to develop the frailty service further, Dr Richards is looking to develop a ward “in reach” service where FIT will identify patients with frailty who have been admitted to hospital to help them get home as quickly as possible.