The BGS collaborates with many others who share our goal of improving healthcare for older people. Together we contribute to increasing older people’s access to care, and to ensuring that care is person-centred and high-quality.
In this section of our website, we list the main partners with whom the BGS works.
The BGS works with other medical societies and Royal Colleges in areas where we share a mutual interest in older people’s care, offering co-awarded qualifications such as the Diploma in Geriatric Medicine, and issuing joint statements and letters with the aim of influencing health policy. These partnerships also enable the sharing of information with experts from other relevant specialties, helping to improve knowledge and skills in the care of older people.
The voluntary and community sector is an essential part of our lives in the UK, filling the gaps where the public and private sector don’t reach. There are a great many organisations and communities in the not-for -profit sector which help older people. Some of the largest charities are focussed on improving diagnosis, treatment and care for people with a single condition or disease, many of whom are older people. They play an important role in campaigning, advocacy, research, service delivery and support. Others provide community support, such as day centres or dance classes, often run by volunteers.
The BGS’s main charity partners are those with a wider span. We collaborate with them to achieve common policy goals. We share insights and information and occasionally work together on joint reports.
The BGS seeks to influence and hold to account NHS leaders in each of the devolved nations of the UK. We regularly contribute to meetings, consultations, reports, benchmarking and audits that focus on delivery of healthcare that meets the specific needs of older adults. We also disseminate information relevant to the work of our members.
We belong to, and partner with, international organisations to expand our knowledge and reach to overseas health systems, as well as to learn from international colleagues and contribute to global improvements in healthcare for older people. From time to time we co-host educational events, such as the EuGMS Congress in 2022 and the World Falls Congress in 2026, assembling healthcare professionals from around the world with a shared interest in areas of older people’s healthcare.
The BGS is a member of alliances which bring different organisations together around a common goal.
Community Rehabilitation Alliance
The Community Rehabilitation Alliance (CRA) is made up of more than 60 charities and professional bodies. These organisations are all committed to improving commissioning, planning and delivery of rehabilitation and span both health and social care. The CRA also has sister alliances in each of the for UK nations, they are the Community Rehabilitation Alliance Northern Ireland, the Right to Rehab Coalition in Scotland and the Right to Rehab Campaign in Wales all share a similar make up and vision.
The shared priorities of the four alliances are:
1. To gain political commitment to delivering universal access to rehabilitation to meet needs
2. To improve the quality of rehabilitation through new models, better data collection, planning, commissioning and delivery of services.
Coalition of Frontline Care for End of Life
The BGS was a founder partner in this coalition of health and social care organisations campaigning for better palliative and end of life care. The Coalition of Frontline Care for People Nearing the End of Life, which also includes Care England, National Care Forum and The Gold Standards Framework Centre (GSF), calls for enhanced core training in end of life care (EOLC) for the UK’s three million generalist frontline health and social care workers. Most people who die each year in the UK do so in older age, with nearly 70% being aged over 75. The BGS and the Coalition campaign for better public and professional understanding of this reality, and for person-centred individualised care and support at the end of life.
The BGS partners with companies and organisations who have an interest in improving healthcare for older people. We usually do this through opportunities to sponsor or organise symposia at our scientific meetings, and through sponsorship of research, elearning courses or other educational products. For more details of these opportunities please see here.
Income from industry sponsors helps us to develop clinical quality resources and education for the benefit of the healthcare workforce. To discuss how we can work together, please contact our Director of Learning and Professional Development: g.collingridge@bgs.org.uk.
As part of its mission to improve healthcare for older people, the BGS supports the creation and application of evidence for clinical interventions. We help to build research capacity and skills, we share information about research opportunities and we provide a limited amount of research funding.
Vivensa Foundation
Since 2019, the BGS has co-funded three-year Doctoral Research Fellowships with Vivensa Foundation (formerly known as Dunhill Medical Trust). One award is made each year for a three-year fully-funded Fellowship in ageing research. For more information, see here.
PhD Fellows
Adeela Usman, the first Fellow, developed a quality-of-life framework for use in older people’s care homes. Having started her PhD in 2020 just before the pandemic, she is coming to the end of her PhD now;
Dr Sarah Hopkins, the 2021 Fellow, is using experience-based co-design to improve the impact of advance care planning on the care of older people with frailty;
Dr Hannah Moorey, the 2022 fellow, is investigating delirium in older people admitted to hospital;
Dr Shiv Bhakta, one of the two 2023 fellows, is investigating the impact of calcium build-up on stroke risk in older adults;
Dr Marc Österdahl, who also received the fellowship in 2023, is investigating whether hormone replacement therapy mediates the risk of frailty in later life;
Dr Liam Barrett, the 2024 Fellow, is investigating the effects of ageing and blood thinners on clotting in older people with traumatic injuries.
An award was not made in 2025 due to the late withdrawal of the candidate.
The BGS and Vivensa Foundation are partnering on a new series of undergraduate research placements which will begin in 2026. Host university departments will provide funded placements of six weeks for undergraduates to gain early exposure to research on ageing research. For more information see here.