Frailty in primary care: moving from identification to person-centred management

Frailty is an increasingly important concept within primary care, reflecting a state of reduced physiological reserve, impaired resilience and increased vulnerability to adverse outcomes. Although strongly associated with ageing, frailty is not an inevitable consequence of growing older and should be understood as a distinct clinical state with important implications for assessment, care planning, and multidisciplinary management. This article explores the nature of frailty and its distinction from normal ageing, considering the importance of early identification, the role of the Clinical Frailty Scale and the value of the comprehensive geriatric assessment for holistic assessment. This discussion also examines multimorbidity, the frailty cycle, asset-based approaches, stigma, biomedical screening and the role of dynamic care planning in primary care. It argues that effective frailty care requires a proactive, biopsychosocial and person-centred approach that is shared across the multidisciplinary team and rooted in the principle of ‘what matters to me?’ rather than ‘what is the matter with me?’.