Assessment of frail older adults and end of life

First published December 2016, updated March 2022   More than 40% of hospital inpatients in Scotland are 75 years or older and many of these patients are frail and have multiple comorbid illnesses.1 They may be unable to see, hear or understand. They are likely to be taking large numbers of medications with very little idea of the names of these drugs, what they do or what side effects they might have. They may be worried and confused. They are also unlikely to have a single diagnosis. For well over a third, admission marks the beginning of the last year