Healthwatch Essex has published a new report on ‘Experiences of Frailty and Ageing Well in West Essex’, on behalf of the NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board. Capturing the voices of residents aged 65 years old and over living with frailty and age-related conditions, the report highlights critical findings on the challenges of navigating the health and social care system.
Across west Essex, many people are growing older while living with frailty, dementia or long-term health conditions. They continue to care for others, contribute to their communities, and value their independence – often with quiet resilience. Yet for far too many, navigating health and social care services can feel overwhelming, confusing and at times deeply frustrating.
Bringing together the unheard voices of the community, by speaking with older residents, family carers, local support services, and healthcare professionals, our report shares what ageing in west Essex really looks like. Through personal stories and detailed case studies, our report highlights moments of compassion and outstanding care, but also exposes the gaps, barriers and pressures that make ageing well harder than it needs to be.
At its heart, this report is about listening – and using lived experience to shape kinder, more responsive services that support people to live with dignity, confidence and choice. Across our interviews, clear and recurring themes emerged.
Access to Primary Care
· Accessing primary care was a significant challenge for many. Digital-first systems left some older residents feeling excluded or anxious, particularly when trying to secure a face-to-face appointment. Seeing a different clinician each time often meant repeating health histories and receiving mixed advice. Where individuals had a consistent GP or clinician who knew them, they described feeling safer, better understood and more supported.
Hospital Care and Discharge
· Hospital care and discharge caused particular worry. Some people shared experiences of rushed or poorly planned discharges, often feeling that decisions were driven by system pressures rather than personal needs. Missed frailty or falls assessments, limited rehabilitation, and poor communication between hospital teams and community services left patients and carers feeling unprepared and vulnerable.
Dementia and Frailty Care
· Dementia and frailty care was described as inconsistent. Families spoke about a lack of understanding in some healthcare settings, insufficient personalised support, and uncertainty around medication and care decisions. For some, pandemic restrictions intensified distress and decline, separating people from the loved ones who knew them best. Conversations about future care were often unclear, rushed or avoided, adding to fear and uncertainty.
Unpaid Carers and Community Support
· Family carers described the emotional and physical toll of caring, often while managing their own health. Many felt unseen and unsupported, stepping into the role of advocate to keep loved ones safe – not because they wanted to, but because they had no choice.
· Paid care and community support were under visible strain. Shortages of carers and care home places, inconsistent quality of domiciliary care, and financial worries created ongoing stress for older residents and families, particularly those without strong support networks.
Communication and Information
· Across all these areas, communication and information mattered deeply. When information was unclear or missing, people felt anxious, mistrusted services, and were left to chase services up themselves. When communication was kind, clear and consistent, it made an enormous difference.
What worked well?
Alongside these challenges, people also shared what worked well: compassionate frontline staff, a single named professional, social prescribers, community matrons, dementia workers, and peer support groups that reduced isolation and restored confidence. These examples show what is possible when care is joined-up and person-centred.
How can we change the system?
Drawing directly on these lived experiences, our report sets out clear, practical recommendations for improving local health and social care. Above all, these recommendations call for care that is built around people, their lives, relationships, fears and hopes – rather than around systems.
Key priorities include:
· Keeping non-digital routes to care open and improving continuity of care.
· Strengthening hospital discharge planning with proper frailty, falls and home assessments.
· Expanding high-quality care closer to home, including rehabilitation and community-based support.
· Recognising and supporting carers as partners in care, not an afterthought.
· Improving dementia awareness, training and dementia-friendly environments.
· Reducing isolation through community hubs, social prescribing and better transport.
· Addressing digital exclusion without removing face-to-face care.
· Supporting gentle, compassionate conversations about future care and preferences.
Why do these changes matter?
It’s a shared opportunity for change.
The stories in this report reflect both the dedication of many health and care professionals and the real human cost of fragmented services. When systems don’t join up, people’s health can deteriorate unnecessarily, carers can become exhausted, and trust can be lost.
But these experiences also point to hope.
By listening carefully, valuing lived experience, and working together across organisations and communities, we have an opportunity to build a more compassionate, age-friendly system. One that supports people not just to live longer, but to live well.
This report is an invitation.
An invitation to listen more deeply, to act with empathy, and to place older residents and carers at the heart of decisions that affect their lives. If we do that, ageing can be something people feel supported with – not something to face alone.
Lily Boag,
Project Officer
This project was led by Project Officer Lily Boag.
You can find our report here. For more information about this project, please contact Lily Boag at [email protected].