The Early Intervention for Healthy Ageing Phase 2 – Frailty Research Report
About this resource
Australia’s ageing population is driving a sharp rise in frailty which is strongly linked to disability, functional decline, escalating healthcare costs, and a reduced quality of life. General practices are uniquely positioned to deliver evidence-based, proactive identification and management of frailty, enabling primary care to play a pivotal role in reducing patients’ adverse outcomes and improve their quality of life. The Adelaide Primary Health Network (PHN) commissioned a research evaluation of the Early Intervention Initiatives Phase 2 project (Dec 2024-Nov 2025). The project targeted 16 general practices and patients at risk (aged ≥ 65 years, 55+ for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders), to screen for frailty and provide care planning over a 3-month sprint (Feb-May 2025). The project was evaluated using the RE-AIM framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance). This research evaluation demonstrates that the Early Intervention Phase 2 – Frailty project was effective in increasing general practice teams’ knowledge, confidence and uptake of frailty identification and management. Implementation strategies addressed the barriers and enhanced the implementation of frailty identification and management into general practice with facilitated support, financial incentives, practice champions, quality improvement processes, and training workshops. Policy level incentives will further support sustained adoption of evidence-based frailty care into routine practice and scale up across general practices.