Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs) was launched in 2006 with the aim of helping older people to remain independent and prevent or delay the need for more intense care. Since then over £60 milllion has been spent on the scheme helping almost 100,000 people.

The projects can help older people by doing their shopping or gardening, giving help to collect prescriptions and advice on taking the correct medicines and specifically checking on those at risk from hospital admission.

Speaking at the National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) conference, Phil Hope said: “In 20 years’ time a quarter of the entire adult population in England will be over 65 and the number of people over 85 will have doubled.”

With these sort of figures, the success of POPPs has hada great impact on the lives of many older people and could provide respite for many more. From the pilot project, the interim report found that:

• 99,988 people had received or were receiving a service as part of POPP in 29 pilot sites.
• Elderly people using the service found their quality of life (mobility, washing/dressing, pain, anxiety) improved.
• For every £1 spent on POPP interventions, 73p will be saved on the cost of emergency hospital bed-days.
• Because POPP services have led to fewer days in hospital, the overall cost of care has been reduced by £410 per person.

POPP Case Study

One woman who was helped through the POPP project in Poole, was 82-year-old Freda who fell and injured her leg. The leg needed regular dressing, however, Freda suffers from short term memory loss and as a result was missing appointments at the surgery. As her leg was not getting the correct and regular treatment it deteriorated so much that it was being considered for a skin graft. The Practice Nurse referred Freda to POPP, and with the assistance of a Help and Care Volunteer Driver Freda was able to keep her appointments at the surgery and her leg has now healed. Had POPP not been involved and found a means for her to keep her appointments, she would have been admitted to hospital for a skin graft.

Find out more at the Department of Health POPPs website

Tags: older people, POPPs

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under Elderly Aid News, Elderly Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.