Frailty Masterclass

It dawned on me, as I sat looking pretty on the display desk at Exeter Racecourse, that perhaps this was really the reason I had been allowed out of the office… to provide good luck to Emma Gray from the Private Client team. Emma is always busy, and this time she was presenting a couple of workshops to a variety of care providers, care staff, GPs, GP trainees and others who care for the Elderly.

On Monday, 9^th September 2019, Emma represented Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) at the Frailty Masterclass, which is part of various training provided by the Devon Training Hub CEPN.  The day was advertised to all Healthcare Professionals and allied Healthcare Workers as a great opportunity to build knowledge in various areas of frailty.

The day started with an outline of the learning objectives, and two talks from doctors on best practice when caring for patients who are frail, and how to recognise frailty and manage it.  There were then two sets of morning workshops in which Emma presented to a variety of NHS staff and care providers on the benefits of Lasting Powers of Attorneys (LPAs), capacity and assessments.

Emma was disappointed that so few delegates had heard of SFE and was shocked by how few patients prepare Welfare LPAs, despite the care staff saying how beneficial it is to have them. It was interesting to have an interactive session so that people could ask questions and she could tailor the talk depending on the interest in each workshop.

After lunch, there were afternoon workshops where Emma heard about information sharing between health and social care, and optimising communication between care providers and the Community Health Care Teams.  Emma passionately believes in different professionals communicating and ensuring that together they get the best outcome for the patients/clients.

A MacMillan GP drew the day to a close with a talk about the long term consequences of cancer treatment and how everyone can help manage these.  All in all, there was a great buzz to the day and it was a privilege to be able to help raise awareness amongst the medical professionals who attended about some of the legal matters that Private Client lawyers do for the clients, as well as hearing practically how the documents are used at the critical time.

It was a great day, and at least, this time, I got to watch!