The Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH) initiative includes a Frailty Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) unit at East Surrey Hospital and the expansion of its Geriatric Medicine Integrated Initiative (GEMINI) Acute Frailty Service.

Dr Iain Wilkinson, clinical director of frailty at SASH, who has led the project, said: ‘We are really excited to bring this new model of care to SASH. It is the right thing for our older patients and will help us link into the hospital as well as teams working in our local community. We know it's going to be a lot of work and that this is just the start of an ongoing development of the services we offer.'

The initiative enables staff to rapidly identify people who are frail earlier and carry out comprehensive geriatric assessments and advanced care planning so that they can return home sooner.

GEMINI will provide the trust with accessible specialist frailty support across urgent and emergency care. The new Frailty SDEC will support same-day turnarounds, preventing older and frail patients from requiring an overnight admission to hospital.

The team have been working closely with external partners, including the South East Coast Ambulance Service to expand the model to make best use of community services and alternative pathways, including virtual wards.

The enhanced service also supports the trust's Let's Get You Home programme which helps patients return home, or to onward care once their treatment in hospital is complete.