Skills for Health is a non-profit education organisation in the UK. They were recently commissioned by NHS England and Health Education England to create a skills framework for frailty. The vision was to create a framework which would upskill the heath workforce to provide the best possible care for people living with frailty. This framework has now been published.
The framework is made up of 14 key skills which are grouped into 4 domains; Understanding, identifying and assessing frailty, Person-centered collaborative working, Managing Frailty and Underpinning principles.
Each of the key skills are further separated into different Tiers representing a beginner, intermediate and expert system. The tier system allows you to make sure you match the skills required to care for frail elderly patients to your job role. These are explained below.
- Tier 1 for those that require a general awareness of frailty.
- Tier 2 for those who work with people living with frailty but do not necessarily make decisions about their care.
- Tier 3 is aimed at those who make complex decisions for those living with frailty.
The creation of the framework will allow healthcare providers to identify the skills, knowlegde and behaviours required to deliver the best possible care for our frail elderly patients.
To read the framework as a PDF document you have to fill in the form on the page linked to above. Don’t worry it is completely free.