-In collaboration with the frailty academy-

FRAILTY
ACADEMY

COMMUNITY COORDINATOR

About

History

The frailty academy was set up in 2021 by Dr James Adams, Consultant Geriatrician, Frailty Academy Chair and Chief of Service for Frailty and Community Services at Royal Surrey. He created a vision of making extensive education and training available for all, so that everyone in the health and care system, including people living with frailty themselves, is at least frailty aware. The work plan of the Academy is directed by a multi-professional steering group including staff from both the Royal Surrey and the University of Surrey’s Faculty of Medicine

Ambition

Their ambition is for everyone in Guildford and Waverley to have awareness of what frailty is and to provide training in the use of resources, so that people who are living with frailty can be best supported to age well and live life to the full. They are committed to developing staff to the highest standard through their development programmes.

The Frailty Academy’s vision is for everyone to age well, for volunteers and staff to have the skills and knowledge in frailty to support our older population and for the experience of people living with frailty and their carers to inform and improve how we provide care and support

Aims

The Frailty Academy aims to implement the following ambitions from the Guildford and Waverley (G&W) Alliance Frailty Strategy:

To have a frailty academy to provide consistent high quality education and training for our workforce aligned to the core capabilities framework, investing in our people and helping them develop their knowledge and skills.
To ensure people living with frailty, or those who are vulnerable, have access to the right learning and training in order to live well and age well. Carers and families will be supported to understand frailty and recognising frailty crisis.

Achieving this goal will improve the effectiveness and capability of services for people living with frailty and empower people living with frailty (as well as their family, friends and carers) to understand the condition, make the most of available support and to plan effectively for their own current and future care needs.

Training

The Frailty Academy is making available a range of learning opportunities to support people who have frailty and health and social care workers who provide care. Below is a list of some of the products available and in development.

Information to increase understanding of frailty on the website.
A Frailty Basics learning pack for families, volunteers and staff who want to know more about what frailty is and how to help a person who is frail.
A Frailty Awareness pack (tier 1 of the Frailty Capabilities Framework) for people living with frailty, as well as their family, friends and carers, to ensure they are making the most of the support on offer and can plan effectively for their own current and future care needs. This tier is also for all those working in health, social care and other services who have contact with people with frailty including those who will go on to further training at tiers 2 and 3.
Frailty Champions weekly learning sessions (tier 2 of the Frailty Capabilities Framework) relevant for health and social care staff and others who regularly work with people living with frailty but who would seek support from others for complex management or decision-making. This tier is for those who provide care and support for people living with frailty as part of their work, but who would not be responsible for complex decisions regarding management of frailty.

About our Community Frailty Academy Coordinator

Voluntary Action South West Surrey has recruited a part-time Community Frailty Academy Coordinator to work in Guildford and Waverley. Working closely with the Frailty Academy Programme Manager and Project Manager, they are supporting the roll-out of the Frailty Academy programme amongst small charities and voluntary organisations in Guildford and Waverley to help improve the delivery of their services for older people.

Our Coordinator assists in the planning and delivery of frailty education programmes to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) and provides training where necessary to raise awareness of the issues relating to older people living with frailty.

Additionally, our coordinator is working with the Frailty Academy Programme Manager and Project Manager to create and implement strategies to identify and overcome barriers to accessing frailty training in the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector, and understanding the staffing and educational challenges that lead to these barriers.

By being based in the voluntary sector, our coordinator is able to contribute to the production of frailty academy resources ensuring they meet the needs of the VCSE sector and can support the further development of frailty learning opportunities within the sector . They are also responsible for carrying out a mapping exercise of current provision and identifying organisations to work with on a 1:1 basis to help them to improve their level of knowledge and understanding regarding frailty.

On a broader note, our coordinator contributes to continuous quality improvement projects and processes and implements and maintains effective and efficient procedures that aim to optimise the delivery of frailty specific education and training in the voluntary sector in Guildford and Waverley.

Meet our Community Frailty

Academy Coordinator