The population is getting older. For some people this can mean having several health problems and difficulty doing
everyday things. A Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is a process involving older people (usually aged
65 and over), their families, and health and social care staff to identify and help manage these problems and
prevent new problems arising. This can mean that people are less likely to need hospitalisation or to go into a care
home because their health is better managed. At present, however, many older people have difficulty accessing
healthcare, and COVID-19 has led to fewer face-to-face hospital appointments, which means that people may not
currently be getting the best care.
Our research wants to see if we can develop a process of remote assessment and care called enhanced CGA
(eCGA). This would look at how best to meet the needs of older people and their families. This will involve us
looking at research that has already been done to see where alternatives to face-to-face contact could be used (or
not). This could include using telephone or video, as well as novel digital technology such as Apps, smart
speakers or sensors. We will interview older people and their families, and staff, to ask:
With the information, we will devise a plan of what would be part of eCGA and how this could work in practice.
All our research will be completed in collaboration with a stakeholder group of older people, their family members,
and health and care professionals. They will meet eight times during the 15-month project. The stakeholder work
will be led and supported by our Patient, Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) lead and our PPIE
representative. The outcomes of our development work will be a detailed plan of eCGA, developed with
stakeholders, and a proposal for a future programme of work.
Our future programme to evaluate eCGA would involve a series of research studies to:
The anticipated impact of our work is:
This study/project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (NIHR203293) and the School for Primary Care Research (Reference 601). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.