Frail older people and safety across the continuum of care NHS Borders

• An NHS Borders project, run in partnership with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
• Project will test the Safety Measurement and Monitoring across a pathway spanning primary, secondary and social care services, focusing on older people.
• Will involve developing a set of measures to assess performance against each of the framework’s key domains, and testing the practical application of these measures in driving improvement in the safety of integrated services.

Contact: Julia Scott, Programme Manager - Patient Safety, NHS Borders

NHS Borders is an integrated health system providing primary and secondary care to a population of around 110,000 people, the majority of whom live in rural areas. The proportion of older people in the population is higher than the national average, whereas levels of illness and deprivation are relatively low.

This project, in partnership with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, is focused on improving safety for older people across the continuum of care. The Safety Measurement and Monitoring framework will be tested across a pathway spanning primary, secondary and social care services. In addition, the framework will be tested at an organisational level, focusing on further development of the approach to reporting using data at NHS board level.

The work builds on the extensive review of the Francis, Keogh and Berwick reports undertaken by the organisation in 2013/14, and on existing work of their Older People in Acute Care programme.

The project team’s aim is to work across sectors to develop a set of measures to assess performance against the domains of the framework. They will then test the practical application of these measures in driving improvement in the safety of integrated services.

As an integrated health system, NHS Borders is able to examine linkages between safety information held at practice, hospital and social care level relating to older people. The team will use this information to identify system issues that may be predictors of future risks to the safety of care provided across the frailty pathway.