Frailty Workshop

Agenda:

16:30 – 17:00       Registration with tea/coffee

17:00 – 17:05       Welcome by co-chairs Jules Constantinou (The IFoA), and Carol Jagger (Newcastle University)

17:05 – 18:05       Presentations from:

Tom Kirkwood (Associate Dean for Ageing, Newcastle University)

James Nazroo (Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester)

Ngaire Kerse (General Practitioner and Head of School of Population Health, University of Auckland)

18:05 – 18:55      Panel discussion/debate with speakers and:

Jackie Morris (British Geriatrics Society Dignity Champion)

Avan Aihie Sayer (MRC Clinical Scientist and Professor of Geriatric Medicine)

18:55 – 19:00      Close by chair

19:00 – 19.30      Refreshments/wine

Why attend:

Frailty in older people is characterised by a cumulative decline in many physiological systems, a vulnerability to stressors leading to an increased risk of adverse outcomes such as falls, disability, long-term care and death.  The continued gains in longevity mean that more people are reaching ages where they are at risk of frailty, as well as other strongly age-related conditions like dementia. When Shakespeare put the immortal words ‘Frailty, thy name is woman!’ into Hamlet’s mouth, he probably had little idea of how true it would be in other contexts more than 400 years later. Women’s longer life expectancy means that a greater proportion of frail older people are women. Although there has been much research on frailty in the last few years, frailty remains difficult to detect, we lack a commonly agreed definition and we do not know why some older people become frail and some do not. Resolution of both of these would help provide more appropriate care for frail older people.

This event will bring together speakers from a range of academic disciplines to address the current state of knowledge and the gaps in key areas of frailty research:

• Biological pathways to frailty
• Inequalities in later life frailty
• Frailty in primary care

This is the third in a series of events being organised by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries under the theme Mortality Seminar Series: Exploring the future; defining the questions.