Overview
The BGS Social Care Group is a new online group for BGS members interested in ensuring good healthcare for older people who use social care, including those living in care homes or receiving support at home. We are looking for new members who are interested in connecting with colleagues working across the sector to share learning, help shape the BGS’s social care work, and contribute to ideas that could make a difference for older people and the people who support them.
The group will be chaired by the new BGS Social Care Lead, who we are currently recruiting. The postholder will lead the BGS’s work at the interface between health and social care, with the group supporting this work.
Policy context
Health and social care are devolved to the four countries of the UK, with the social care sectors organised, funded, commissioned and regulated in different ways and therefore facing different challenges. In England, social care has been in crisis for decades, with multiple governments promising and failing to reform it. In July 2026, the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, committed to reforming the system of social care in England. A Commission led by Dame Louise Casey is already underway, which will make recommendations about how the sector can be sustainably funded and organised. As part of this, the Big Conversation on Care was launched in July, encouraging the public to share their thoughts on the future of social care in England.
During the COVID pandemic, the BGS published influential guidance for care home staff, and followed this up with Ambitions for Change: Improving healthcare in care homes. Since then, with policy developments and structural changes to the health system across the UK, we have prioritised influencing care that takes place in the NHS. Now with renewed government commitment to reforming social care and a Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia being published in autumn 2026, we want to seize the policy opportunity for the BGS to help ensure that the healthcare needs of older people, whether living in care homes or with social care support at home, are met.
Many of our members working in the NHS or in care homes look after older people who receive such social care. There is a huge opportunity to support healthy ageing, to identify early signs of illness or deterioration, to pre-empt unplanned emergency care and to support people with long-term conditions to live and die well, by delivering skilled care in situ.
The BGS’s mission is to improve healthcare for older people. We want to ensure that high-quality health and social care can come together to enable older people living with complex needs to have happy, independent and healthy lives for as long as possible.
The Social Care Group will take a lead at that interface between health and social care, helping the BGS to strengthen its education, training and workforce support, and to contribute to the policy and practice changes that deliver more joined-up, high-quality care.
Accountability
The Social Care Group will report to the BGS Policy and Communications Committee (PACC) and the Social Care Lead will attend PACC meetings. They will also work with the Education and Training Committee to develop an education offer for social care staff with responsibility for healthcare.
Who can join?
This opportunity will appeal to any BGS member who is interested in improving healthcare for older people who use social care and who would enjoy being part of an engaging group at an important moment for the sector. Joining the group will be a chance to share learning, hear from colleagues working across different settings, help shape the BGS’s social care work, and contribute to ideas that could make a difference for older people and the people who support them. This may include care home staff, GPs and other multiprofessional staff involved in delivering Enhanced Healthcare in Care Home (EHCH), community geriatricians and community teams whose remit spans care homes, including those already involved in the BGS’s Healthcare in the Community Group. Members conducting research in care homes or domiciliary care may also be interested in joining.
As social care is devolved to the four nations, we are looking for members across all four nations. BGS outputs need to be relevant to all countries of the UK as far as possible, but there is a specific policy opportunity in England which will be a core focus of the group.
What is the commitment?
The group will meet online four times a year. Members may also be asked to contribute to additional work outside of meetings on an ad hoc basis.
How to join
Please contact BGS Policy Co-ordinator, Lucy Aldridge (l.aldridge@bgs.org.uk) if you are interested in joining the group.
