Care England has responded to the National Audit Office’s new report on support for people living with frailty.
The report – Primary and community healthcare support for people living with frailty – highlights the long-standing and systemic pressures affecting the support older people receive in the community, particularly the lack of consistent NHS provision around frailty identification, follow-up, rehabilitation, and prevention.
According to the report, frailty affects at least 1.5 million older people at an estimated annual cost of £5.8bn to the healthcare system, yet national systems for early identification, follow-up care, and community-based support remain inconsistent and fragmented. Importantly, the report makes clear that these shortcomings sit within health system structures, not within care homes themselves.
Welcoming the NAO’s recognition that the current approach lacks a unified strategy, consistent oversight, and sufficiently funded community services, Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of Care England, said: “This report reinforces what providers have experienced for many years: care homes are ready and willing to deliver preventative, rehabilitative, movement-based support, but the national framework around frailty is incomplete. We urgently need a coherent national frailty strategy, proper investment in community health services, and a shift toward prevention aligned to the NHS 10-year plan. Care homes cannot do this alone. We need primary care, community services and social care properly aligned so older people get the proactive support they deserve.
“Frailty is not a fixed trajectory. Our work in care homes shows that with consistent, personalised movement support, residents regain strength, confidence and independence, often far beyond what was thought possible. These programmes reduce falls, stabilise health and improve wellbeing. With the right investment, this approach could transform outcomes nationally.
“This report must be a turning point. The cost of frailty, financially, socially and in human terms, is too great to ignore. Government must invest in community-based prevention, rehabilitation and social care capacity. Providers across England are already demonstrating what works. Now we need national backing to scale it.”
