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Around 60 patients a week are being safely discharged sooner to their place of residence, thus reducing unnecessary hospital stays, thanks to a new focus on frailty being delivered by Good Hope Hospital and the North Birmingham Locality hub.

Frailty is a long-term, usually age-related state that results in reduced resilience making them more vulnerable with seemingly minor conditions having a major impact on their lives.

A joint team of Good Hope Hospital acute care consultants and North Hub community team now review inpatients with frailty on a daily basis and assess whether they could benefit from a home-first approach by receiving the care they need in the community. Community care can be delivered in a patients’ own surroundings or at community-based clinics.

Patients discussed are inpatients that are either aged 80 and over, those who live in care homes and those identified as approaching palliative or end-of-life care.

Dr Zoe Kimbley, Consultant in Acute Medicine at Good Hope Hospital, who is working closely with the hub team, said: “Our department sees on average 15 patients with frailty each day, with more than 14,000 emergency admissions via A&E during 2025 for patients aged 65 and over. Our priority is to help them return home, or to their usual surroundings, as quickly as possible, where they are more comfortable and will recover sooner.”

North Birmingham (encompassing Sutton Coldfield, Kingstanding and Erdington) has a significant and growing population of elderly and frail residents. Data indicates that the northern part of the city has one of the largest concentrations of older residents in Birmingham, with a high proportion of people aged 65 and over, including those aged over 80.

Dr Rahul Dubb of Sutton Coldfield Group Practice and co-lead GP for the North Locality hub added: “The care co-ordination role at the Locality Hub at Stockland Green Health Centre gives us a real opportunity to glue together hospital based care with that provided in the community and general practice to better tailor health and care services to meet the needs of our north Birmingham population. We know that North Birmingham has a relatively higher proportion of a growing elderly population. Our collaborative working with Good Hope Hospital teams is a key ingredient in helping us provide the very best health and care services we can to ensure that local people live well for longer in their own surroundings.

As part of the continued development of health and care services in North Birmingham, the area is set to welcome the opening of the new Sutton Cottage Hospital which is being transformed by Birmingham Community Healthcare (NHS) Foundation Trust into a £8.5 million “one-stop” integrated health hub for older adults in North Birmingham, focusing on specialised care for frailty, dementia, and chronic conditions. Scheduled to be operational late spring 2026, it will offer multidisciplinary services to provide proactive integrated care in the community, including diagnostics thus reducing hospital admissions.

This new approach enhances existing services delivered in North Birmingham and Good Hope Hospital for patients with frailty. Services in North Birmingham will continue to be developed by the North Locality Hub.