At NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, we are speaking to local people to find out their experiences of getting older and experiencing frailty, and how we can better support healthy, independent living as people grow older.
Frailty means a reduced ability to bounce back from illness, injury, or stress, leading to a higher risk of adverse health outcomes such as falls, disability, hospitalisation, and early deaths. It’s more common as we age, but it can also affect younger people, especially those living with a long-term condition like heart problems or dementia. It can be worsened by loneliness or bereavement. The good news is that frailty isn’t inevitable, and a healthy, active lifestyle and in some cases, and in some cases small changes to lifestyle, can prevent or delay it.
We have written a new draft Healthy Ageing and Frailty Strategy for 2025 to 2028 to help people live longer, healthier lives by preventing or managing frailty before it becomes severe — improving quality of life and reducing pressure on health and care services. This is particularly important, as our local population ages. Currently, there are 118,000 people aged over 65 in the county , which is projected to rise to 162,000 by 2035.
We want to make sure we’re doing all we can to support healthy ageing, reduce health inequalities, and respond to growing needs. The draft Healthy Ageing and Frailty Strategy aims to:
- Help people understand what healthy ageing and frailty mean
- Help more people avoid becoming frail
- Slow down how quickly frailty gets worse
- Improve quality of life for more people living with frailty
- Get better support for people living with severe frailty and their carers
- Reduce emergency hospital visits for people with frailty
To make sure our plan meets people’s real needs, we’re asking people living with frailty, at a higher risk of frailty or caring for someone with frailty to share their views. We would like to hear about your experiences and opinions. This will help us make sure our plan works well for local people.
In particular, we’d love to hear from:
- Health and care professionals working in healthy ageing and frailty-related services
- A volunteer in health and social care supporting people with healthy ageing and frailty
- A volunteer in the voluntary/community sector supporting people with healthy ageing and frailty
We will use your feedback to understand gaps in support, improve how services work together, and make sure we focus on what matters most to local people.
This survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous unless you choose to provide contact details.
This survey closes on Monday 30 June 2025