North West

Region Overview

The North West region covers the area including:

  • Lancashire and South Cumbria
  • Greater Manchester
  • Cheshire and Merseyside

Meet North West BGS members

  • BGS members can join our members directory allowing them to connect with other healthcare professionals in their region.
     
  • The forum is free to access for all health professionals with a BGS web account. You can access it via the BGS app. Use the forum to discuss older people's healthcare by theme (e.g. dementia) or topic (e.g. workforce). The forum also allows you to ask questions, or help provide answers to other professionals. It is a forum where health professionals can ask seek help, offer support to others or share their successes. Find out more on the forum information page.

Get involved

There are multiple ways to get involved with your BGS region.

  • Submit content for your regional e-bulletin. The BGS sends a tailored quarterly e-bulletin to each of its six England regions. As the region areas are so vast, you can provide valuable support by sharing updates on what’s happening in your own hospital or Trust. Please email your Co-Chairs with updates.
     
  • Help to plan our online events and webinars. By joining the planning committee, you will have the opportunity to help create programme content, source speakers and support on the day. This will help to enable colleagues to improve the delivery of high-quality healthcare to older people. Please email your region Co-Chairs to express your interest.

Events

Events taking place in this region

24
Jun
2026
to
26
Jun
2026

3rd World Falls Congress 2026

This event is intended for all multidisciplinary healthcare professionals working with older people who have undergone a fall, or are at risk of falling. Building upon the past conferences in Malaysia and Australia the two days will include keynote presentations from experts in the field, workshops and plenary sessions demonstrating best practice approaches available.
View all

2026 North West Region Meeting

27
Nov
2026
to
27
Nov
2026

2026 North West Region Meeting

This virtual meeting is hosted by the North West Region. 
BGS 2026 North West Region Meeting

North West Officers

North West Region Update March 2026

Our Region Co-Chairs share an update every quarter, highlighting key developments, successes, and priorities from across their region.

Hello! My name is Dr Scott Mather, and I’m a Consultant Geriatrician at Manchester Royal Infirmary. Alongside me is Dr Nishma Harker, also a Consultant Geriatrician at Manchester Royal Infirmary, which forms part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest and busiest acute trusts in the UK. Between us, we have worked across many parts of the northwest of England, supporting older patients, training clinicians, and championing best practice in care for older people.

As reported recently by BBC, this winter has been another exceptionally challenging period for health and social care, with over 52,000 trolley waits recorded in our region. Services across the northwest have felt the pressure acutely, with inpatient flow significantly constrained at times. Although this has tested our teams and colleagues, there is genuine relief as we emerge from the worst of the winter season, and optimism that the coming months will bring some respite for services and staff.

Geriatric Medicine MSc Programme: Exciting Changes Ahead 
A key regional update is that the Geriatric Medicine MSc, undertaken by the majority of our trainees, is moving from University of Salford to University of Greater Manchester (Bolton). This transition provides an opportunity to refresh the curriculum, incorporating new themes, contemporary evidence and educational developments in how we train future geriatricians, advanced practitioners and allied health professionals. We are both proud to be senior lecturers on the programme and look forward to further updates as it evolves.

NIHR Research Day 
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will host a North West Regional Research Delivery Network Ageing Research Day on 26 March 2026 at Citylabs. Hosted by Emma Vardy, the meeting is open to anyone working with older people who has an interest in research, across all disciplines and career stages.

NW Clinical Ageing Research Network 
A new regional network for academics and health professionals interested in clinical research in older people has been established, led by Joanne Taylor. Its aims are to promote collaborative “home-grown” research, strengthen regional research capacity, expand research training opportunities and foster a growing research community.

Save the Date: 3rd World Falls Congress in Manchester, 24-26 June 2026
We are also excited to welcome colleagues to the 3rd World Falls Congress, taking place 24–26 June 2026 at University of Manchester. This major international hybrid event will focus on falls prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, bringing together healthcare professionals, researchers and specialists from around the world to share evidence, best practice and innovation.