The project uses a digital health tool known as Quantitative Timed Up Go (QTUG) to assess a person’s mobility. Individuals attach the device to their legs, stand from a chair and walk three metres across the room and back, then sit back down. The results from this assessment can be used to determine a person’s risk of frailty and falls.
Jessica Pinto, nurse practitioner at the ICDC, explained: “It’s something that takes a minute and it makes a big difference. It’s very straightforward and the results are very clear and easy to understand.”
Testing people over 50 routinely has improved referrals to the HIV and healthy ageing clinic known as the Sage Clinic. This clinic support attendees by creating individual care plans to slow or reverse the process of frailty.
Dr Howell Jones said: “The earlier that we introduce interventions for frailty, the better chance that we’re going to improve quality of life, reverse frailty and reduce the risk of falls, hospital admissions, length of stay and mortality”.
In the past, it had been difficult to get people to attend the Sage clinic, in part due to the perceived stigma around being labelled as frail.
Dr Jones explained: “For people living with HIV, many of them have faced stigma and discrimination throughout their entire journey. The ICDC is the oldest HIV clinic in the country established in 1990 by Professor Margaret Johnson. We have supported many people from that time and the service has aged with them, so it is important that the service continues to adapt to meet everchanging needs”.
The QTUG tool, however, has been hugely popular with people. So much so, the ICDC has doubled the number of frailty clinics offered from once to twice a month. The ‘do not attend’ appointment rate has also dropped significantly.
Dr Jones and Jess hope that the frailty assessment can now become a standard of care that staff can deliver for all people over 50 attending ICDC. “It’s about embedding a culture of thinking about frailty,” Dr Jones concluded.
The Royal Free London’s Ian Charleson Day Centre offers world class care for those living with HIV. The centre has access to a range of clinical trials including those for new antivirals, primary HIV infections and questionnaire-based studies with a dedicated research team.
