Enabling health and maintaining independence for older people at home: the 'HomeHealth' trial

For some older people, day to day life can be challenging. They may feel less strong than they used to, have lost confidence or find everyday activities more difficult than before. Researchers have developed a new service, 'HomeHealth', which aims to enable older people to maintain their independence and activities they enjoy. HomeHealth is delivered by trained support workers over 6 months who support older people to work on goals to maintain their independence, such as strength exercises, nutrition, mood and enhancing social engagement. This randomised controlled trial will test whether HomeHealth helps older people who are becoming frail, stay independent for longer, compared to usual care. It will also see if it would provide value for money if offered as part of standard NHS care.

Early findings suggest that the HomeHealth service covers a gap in person-centred, holistic, mild frailty services and that:

• HomeHealth is acceptable and provides a sense of empowerment.
• Behaviour changes can last beyond the end of the service.

These findings can help inform provision for supporting older people at home through initiatives like HomeHealth. We are in the process of publication.

UCL

University of Hertfordshire (research site)

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (research site)

University of Leeds

Kings College London

Kingston & St George’s University

Glasgow Caledonian University

University of Nottingham

ARC East of England

Age UK Camden (HomeHealth service delivery)

Age UK Bradford (HomeHealth service delivery)

Hertfordshire Independent Living Service (HomeHealth service delivery)

UCL Centre for Behaviour Change

Later Life Training