Guidance Library

Frailty becomes more common with age, but it is not an inevitable part of getting older. Recognising it can help people and services respond more appropriately.

Useful for consistent professional language, education, service conversations and avoiding fatalistic assumptions about frailty.

Professional key messages from the British Geriatrics Society; useful for communication and practice context, but not a substitute for primary research, systematic reviews or formal clinical guidelines.

A concise, current UK specialist-society statement that frames frailty as reduced physiological reserve and vulnerability to stressors, while emphasising that frailty is not an inevitable part of ageing.

Supports regular review of medicines so that treatment remains useful, safe and aligned with the person's needs and priorities.

Useful backbone for medication review and transitions of care; should be interpreted alongside multimorbidity guidance and condition-specific recommendations in people living with frailty.

Evidence-based NICE guideline covering medicines optimisation across populations; frailty-specific decisions may require additional evidence and individualised clinical judgement.

Provides the NICE framework for safe and effective medicines use, including medicines reconciliation, structured medication review, polypharmacy and shared decision-making relevant to older adults.

Focuses on abilities such as mobility, thinking, nutrition, vision, hearing and psychological wellbeing, and on helping people maintain what matters in daily life.

Useful bridge between Healthy Ageing Education's intrinsic-capacity evidence work and practical assessment, personalised care planning and monitoring. Portuguese edition is available from WHO.

WHO evidence-based implementation guidance; complements primary research and systematic reviews on intrinsic capacity and functional ability.

A current WHO framework for detecting declines in intrinsic capacity and translating assessment into personalised, integrated care pathways in primary and community care.

Shows why good care for an older person often needs to look at health, function, wellbeing, circumstances and priorities together.

Useful practical companion for teaching and applying physical, psychological, functional, social, environmental and future-wishes domains of CGA.

Professional evidence-based implementation resource from the UK specialist society for older people's healthcare; use alongside formal guidelines and primary/synthesised research.

Free evidence-based professional resource explaining CGA as a multidimensional process rather than a one-off assessment, across clinical settings.

Explains how falls risk can be assessed and reduced through an individual plan rather than treating falls as an inevitable part of ageing.

Particularly useful for linking falls assessment with frailty, gait and balance, medicines review, exercise and discharge/community follow-up.

Evidence-based NICE clinical guideline; recommendations synthesise evidence and committee judgement and should be distinguished from individual primary studies.

Current NICE guidance for identifying falls risk, comprehensive assessment and tailored management, with specific relevance to people living with frailty.

Supports care that considers the whole person, including what matters to them and whether multiple treatments are helping or creating burden.

Supports frailty assessment, individualised goals, reducing treatment burden and careful review of treatments whose overall benefit may be limited in frailty.

Evidence-based NICE guideline; particularly important context for applying single-disease guidance to people with frailty and multiple conditions.

Core NICE guidance for person-centred care where frailty, multimorbidity, polypharmacy and treatment burden interact.

Explains practical ways health and care professionals can support people to stay healthier and more independent as they age.

Useful framework for prevention-focused conversations, Making Every Contact Count and linking individual advice with wider determinants of healthy ageing.

Evidence-informed professional guidance; use alongside current condition-specific NICE guidance and primary/synthesised research.

Practical England-focused guidance on integrating healthy ageing, prevention and wellbeing promotion into routine health and care contacts.

Shows that ageing well is influenced not only by healthcare, but also by communities, work, housing and opportunities to stay connected and active.

Helpful for understanding healthy ageing beyond healthcare alone and for education on population, community and system-level approaches.

Consensus and policy context rather than primary research or a clinical treatment guideline.

Sets a broad cross-sector vision for healthy ageing in England, including prevention, inequalities and age-friendly communities.