Claire Norman is an advanced nurse practitioner and frailty lead working for a GP surgery in West Sussex, having trained originally as a paramedic and working for the London Ambulance Service before retraining as a nurse at Kings College London and then completing an MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice at the University of Cumbria. Claire is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Surrey, investigating the concept of psychosocial frailty in community-dwelling older adults. Claire posts on X: @Clairenorman99.
Working as both a paramedic and a nurse meant I encountered many older adults who lived alone with little or no support from friends or family members and were highly vulnerable. This was the foundation for my interest in working with older adults and frailty. I was fortunate to start in primary care when the contracts changed and annual frailty care plans were introduced. This presented the opportunity to start a frailty service across a primary care network of three GP surgeries, which later expanded to five surgeries. During this time, the service and the care were increasingly informed by a growing depth of knowledge and a clearer understanding of what older adults and patients with frailty needed and wanted as part of their care.
An MDT was established at each surgery, and over the years, this grew from a GP with a special interest in frailty, community nurse team leader, community matron and nurse practitioner to eventually including a consultant geriatrician, psychiatrist, dementia link worker, senior caseworker (Occupational Therapists) and frailty administrator. This development in collaborative working significantly helped improve the care we provided and enabled a much more rapid and effective way of managing this complex patient group. I have since moved to a new surgery in West Sussex where we are currently developing our MDTs and frailty networks across both the Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs), which is both challenging yet rewarding to be a part of.
I also have an active interest in research, which developed from my initial undergraduate degree. Later I was fortunate to be able to choose research as my elective during my PgDip Adult Nursing course at Kings College London, which resulted in my first publication. My research interest has continued, and I started my PhD at the University of Surrey in July 2024. My thesis is focused on investigating the bidirectional relationship between psychological frailty and social frailty in community-dwelling older adults. From my previous work in frailty to the present day, these areas are often the most difficult and problematic to address, which is what has led to my PhD researching this specific area. I have also been fortunate to have an opportunity to work with the Dementia Research Institute Centre for Care Research and Technology on their Minder project. This looked at creating smart homes for people living with dementia as well as learning about their behaviours in real time.
Part of the enjoyment I get from working in frailty is the ability and need to be innovative and creative with ways to provide the best care we can, whilst having very few resources (financial, time, and personnel) to call upon. It also requires people to have a can-do attitude, be brave, and try new ways of working whilst simultaneously being pragmatic about what is necessary for safe and appropriate care to be provided. Working as part of an MDT allows learning from different clinicians, drawing upon their expertise, as well as the development of often unexpected collaborations. I believe these are some of the things that make working in frailty such an exciting area to specialise in. I am very proud to support the BGS #ChooseGeriatrics campaign and share my enthusiasm for work in this area whilst promoting the wide range of work and expertise.
