Keeping older people safe at home this Easter

Hospitals and NHS services are generally busier during bank holidays. Older people are at greater risk of falls and infections and more reliant on GPs, carers and community services.

With a four-day bank holiday weekend just around the corner, Dr Emma Hill, from our Frailty Home Treatment Service, shares practical advice on recognising when an older person may need medical care and how to know when it’s time to seek NHS support.

How can I help older family members stay healthy at home?

There are lots of easy-to-spot warning signs that an older person isn’t doing well and the good news is you don’t need to be medically trained to help.

If you are living with, or caring for, an older person, call the GP if they are:

• eating or drinking less than usual
• going to the toilet more or less frequently than before
• feeling unusually tired, weak, or lethargic
• having new mobility issues, like difficulty standing, walking or moving around
• falling more often
• becoming confused or forgetting things.

If your loved one is showing any of these signs or symptoms, it may mean they are more than just under the weather.

What help is available if my older family member needs medical care?

Putting care in place early can avoid a trip to A&E, or even a hospital stay.

For people who need hospital-level care, our specialist teams can step in to help, with a referral from a GP, community nurse, or a paramedic.

Set up to prevent hospital admissions, our Urgent Community Response Team provides short-term care in the community.

And our Frailty Home Treatment Service works alongside people’s own GPs, to find out what is important to them and where they want to be treated.

By delivering expert care at home to those who need it most, our community care teams support about 12,000 older people across the county who would otherwise have gone to hospital.

Is it better for older people to receive care at home or in hospital?

Sadly, many of my older patients tell me the reason they don’t want to go to hospital is because they fear going in and never coming back out. More than half will experience functional decline during their stay.

Sometimes, hospital is the best place to deliver care but we need to be mindful that older people often fare better at home and consider the risks and benefits case-by-case.

By picking up on the littlest of things and asking for help from the many free services available locally, you can help us continue to support older people to live healthy lives at home for longer.

What should I look out for when checking on my older friends and neighbours?

• Think about when you last saw them – are they putting their bins out? Is their post piling up?
• Reach out, or ask someone else to, if you haven’t seen them in a while.
• If you knock on the door for a check-in, are they up and dressed in the daytime? Does their house feel cold? Do they seem their usual self?
• Ask them if they need any help if it’s raining or windy outside – do they get their own shopping and prescriptions. Have they had their NHS vaccinations?

If anything on this list rings alarm bells, it might be a sign that someone is becoming unwell. Your concern could prevent a problem getting worse and keep someone you know out of hospital.

If things don’t seem right, ask if they, or their family, have called their doctor, or NHS 111, if it’s urgent.