The RGPs of Ontario is leading the development of measures, indicators and related data collection tools specific to older people living with frailty and their caregivers. 

This project contributes to a current state view of specialized geriatric services across the province of Ontario, with a focus on the supply and utilization of health services designed for older people living with frailty (e.g. referred to as specialized geriatric services).  This work will contribute to future capacity planning to inform the planning, design and delivery of sufficient and appropriate services to meet the needs of older people living with frailty in Ontario.

To address the growing need for educational supports for family and friend caregivers, the RGPO launched the Senior Friendly Caregiver Education Project in 2018. Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and working in collaboration with caregivers and healthcare providers across Ontario, the goal of the project was to design educational resources that address the diverse learning needs of caregivers who provide care and support for seniors living with frailty.  The result of this project is Caregiving Strategies, a collection of free educational resources that have been developed and/or curated for family and friend caregivers who provide care and support for seniors experiencing frailty.

CGA is the standard of care for specialized geriatric services for frail seniors. It can be initiated by any member of the interprofessional team who has received appropriate training. Through this structure, all team members function as geriatric assessors, sharing a common set of competencies. Team members together create a comprehensive plan of care, in collaboration with patients. It is the combination of interprofessional geriatric assessment data, physical assessment findings, analysis and synthesis of the clinical profile and development of a collaborative plan of care.

Senior Friendly Care is designed to help your healthcare organization assess where they are on their sfCare journey and provides practical resources for implementing real change. The sfCare Framework provides a foundation for achieving the best possible outcomes for older adults. The Framework’s guiding principles and defining statements collectively describe what senior friendly care looks like, but it is not a “how to guide”. The Toolkit helps bring this foundational vision to life by providing actionable recommendations and resources.

GEM is focused on specialized frailty focused nursing services in Emergency Departments. The Geriatric Emergency Management nursing network represents a service providing specialized frailty focused nursing services in many of the province’s emergency departments. It comprises 123 nurses in 56 emergency departments across Ontario lending their expertise to achieve better health outcomes to frail seniors or those at risk of frailty.

The GiiC is training program for Family Health Teams and Community Health Centres to improve their work in frailty focused care. The initiative was designed to support 200 facilitators in core competencies training. The project was funded by a Health Force Ontario Interprofessional Care Grant.

The vision of Senior Friendly Hospitals is to optimize the health and wellness of older adults while they are receiving care in hospital for a safe transition home. The Senior Friendly Hospital collaborative, numbering 87 hospitals across Ontario, work together and share their successes in quality improvement focusing on senior friendly care and service. With the launch of the Senior Friendly Care Framework (October 2017), the SFH collaborative is now a part of the cross sectoral sfCare network.