What is the Wessex Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) toolkit?
Launched on the 4 April 2022, the Wessex CGA toolkit contains a suite of accessible co-produced resources to support the delivery of comprehensive geriatric assessment. The toolkit has been developed to prompt conversations, encourage learning and to set out a Wessex recommended approach to delivering person centred care in any setting.
Who is this toolkit for?
This toolkit is intended for use by clinical colleagues within the MDT.
It can be used in:
- Geriatric and non-geriatric settings
- Primary care, secondary care and within the community setting
How will this Wessex CGA toolkit help you?
It will help you and your team to develop a best practice approach for delivering a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) for individuals, putting them, their families and carers at the heart of care provision. The toolkit has easy to use interactive documents, linking to best practice examples, case studies, checklists and recommendations for individuals and organisations to review, consider and adopt.
This toolkit can also compliment systems in:
- Developing broader operational priorities e.g frailty virtual wards, urgent community response and personalised care planning
- Creating a firm process baseline to move to digitisation of CGAs.
Use the Wessex CGA toolkit menu to navigate through the toolkit.
Why did we do this project?
The 2018 Wessex Acute Frailty audit provided excellent insight into completion of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments across Wessex. The findings of the 2018 audit were revisited in December 2020 by Wessex AHSN Acute Expert Group to understand the appetite to look at a Wessex focused CGA project and determined developing Wessex wide recommendations would provide value.
Our approach
During 2021, the Wessex AHSN Healthy Ageing Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) toolkit was developed alongside 6 clinicians within Wessex, building on the British Geriatric Society CGA guidance, insight distilled from a Wessex-wide CGA audit and themes identified in 2018 Wessex Acute Frailty Audit
Lead clinician
James Lee,Nurse Consultant, Older Persons and Frailty, Salisbury Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Contributors and members of the steering group
- Kerry Burrows, Care Home Pharmacist, Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight CCG
- Joanne Appleton, Regional Community Development Lead - Anticipatory Care and Senior Manager Personalised Care
- Dr Pippa Collins, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Frailty, Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust
- John Frosdick, Advanced Practitioner, Physiotherapist, Solent NHS Trust
- Sarah Gladdish, Consultant, Isle of Wight NHS Trust
- Dr Laura Godfrey, Weymouth and Portland Frailty Service (WECS) Two Harbours Healthcare
- Sarah Mercer, Trainee Consultant Practitioner for Frailty, Urgent Community Response, Mid Hampshire, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Harnish Patel, Consultant, University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust
- James Rushton, Clinical Nurse for Frailty, Isle of Wight NHS Trust
- Kate Rouke, Team Lead Front of House Therapies, Dorset County NHS Foundation Trust
- Claire Spice, Consultant Geriatrician, Portsmouth Hospitals
- Victoria Tweedy, Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Dementia and Frailty), Dorset County NHS Foundation Trust
- Wessex AHSN Medicines Optimisation Team
What is a CGA and why is it important?
A Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is a multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary diagnostic and therapeutic process conducted to determine the medical, mental, functional, and social needs of older people with frailty so that a coordinated, holistic, and integrated plan for treatment and follow-up can be developed. CGA is widely accepted as the gold standard for assessing older people living with frailty.
The British Geriatrics Society (2014) suggests that, “Any interaction between an older person and a health or social care professional should include an assessment which helps to identify if the individual lives with frailty.”
Why is a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment so important for individuals living with frailty?
Many older people in secondary care settings will benefit from Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA). It has been developed over the last 30 years in response to concerns that the needs of older people who required acute hospital level care are not being fully met. It provides a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary assessment of medical, functional, psychological, and social capability to ensure that problems are identified, quantified, and managed appropriately.
Delivery of a comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) by a multidisciplinary team and follow-on care planning reduces the number of people who are unexpectedly readmitted to hospital. CGA also increases the likelihood that an older person will be living in their own home up to twelve months later. For every 20 people assessed in this way, one long-term care home placement can be avoided.
Visit our peer reviewed
CGA resources for additional information.
Wessex Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Toolkit © 2022 by Health Innovation Wessex is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Wessex Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Toolkit by Health Innovation Wessex is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
