The ESCAPE project is pleased to announce that it has received a one-year extension, ensuring the project can reach its full potential and continue activities until the project closes in September 2026. This extension accommodates delays in patient recruitment and allows for the comprehensive completion of the follow-up period, a crucial phase in evaluating the long-term impact of the intervention.
Why This Extension Was Necessary
ESCAPE is dedicated to transforming healthcare for elderly patients with multimorbidity by breaking down healthcare silos and fostering integrated care. By prioritising the treatment of psychological distress alongside physical comorbidities, ESCAPE aims to optimise care pathways and enhance patient wellbeing through a holistic, patient-centred, and technology-enabled intervention known as Blended Collaborative Care (BCC).
Despite extensive mitigation efforts since 2022, patient recruitment faced several delays due to complex legal and bureaucratic hurdles, strict eligibility criteria, and challenges in engaging multimorbid and distressed elderly patients in a research study. However, in January 2025, ESCAPE successfully completed recruitment, reaching its target of 300 patients.
What Happens Next?
With recruitment completed, the project now shifts its focus to evaluating and implementing the intervention. Patients in the intervention arm receive a nine-month study intervention facilitated by ESCAPE’s care managers. These professionals play a pivotal role in delivering the BCC intervention and are working closely with patients to tailor care to their individual needs.
Following the intervention phase, ESCAPE enters a critical post-intervention follow-up period. This period assesses the longitudinal effects of the intervention, with two key evaluation points:
- An immediate assessment after the end of treatment.
- A long-term follow-up up to 24 months thereafter.
Currently, over 80% of eligible patients have completed the end-of-treatment assessment, with long-term follow-ups beginning in March 2025.
Looking Ahead
While reaching the recruitment target was a major milestone, the journey is far from over. With this additional time, ESCAPE will continue its work to generate valuable insights that can revolutionise care for multimorbid older adults. The extension also allows the team to engage in further dissemination activities, ensuring that the findings are translated into meaningful outcomes for patients, caregivers and other key stakeholders, like policymakers and healthcare professionals
The ESCAPE team is thrilled with this extension and remains dedicated to improving the quality of life for elderly patients. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all clinical trial sites, the UMG team, and especially the care managers for their unwavering commitment to the project. Their dedication and hard work have been instrumental in making ESCAPE a success, and we look forward to the next phase of this important journey.
