BGS announces new senior officers
BGS wishes to congratulate and introduce the three successful candidates following recent elections for the Trainees Council and Nurses and AHPs Council. They will each begin their two-year terms in November.
Chair of the Trainees Council - Dr Carly Welch
Dr Carly Welch is a Specialist Trainee in Geriatric Medicine working and training in the West Midlands. She co-founded the Geriatric Medicine Research Collaborative (GeMRC) in August 2017, and her research interests include sarcopenia, frailty and the physiological and functional impacts of hospitalisation and acute stressor events.
On hearing the news that she had been successful in the election, Carly said: "I am very excited to hear that I have been voted in as Chair of the Trainees Council! I’m really looking forward to working with the rest of the council to support the brilliant work they are doing, meeting with the BGS Trustees, and just generally advocating for trainees working with older people across the country!
"A huge thank you goes to Steve Lim for all his hard work over the last couple of years – I realise I have some big shoes to fill! If you’re planning on coming to the BGS Autumn Meeting then please do come along to the trainees session on the Friday so you can meet me in person, and give a huge thank you to Steve and all that the council is doing."
Chair of the Nurses and AHPs Council - Lucy Lewis
Lucy Lewis is currently in her final year of the Health Education England Consultant Practitioner development programme and her clinical interests include improving pathways for older people into, out of, and within the acute hospital setting. Lucy's Quality Improvement projects have included; Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment: From Acute to Community Setting, Delirium and the Intermediate Care Team, and Think Frailty Following a Fall. She is also clinical co-ordinator for the Academic Health Science Network Wessex Acute Frailty Audit. Her PhD research focuses on ‘How do older adults and clinicians make decisions about treatment and support following a new diagnosis of cancer?’
Lucy has represented the Nurses and AHPs Council on the BGS Policy and Communications Committee. In 2019 she was awarded a Florence Nightingale Foundation Travel Scholarship to compare and contrast health services for older people and those living with Frailty in Scotland with that of the Wessex region, Nova Scotia and Toronto.
Speaking of her successful appointment, Lucy said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been elected Chair of the Nurse and AHPs Council. My professional development over the last five years has been partly due to the role models, mentors and friends I have made through being an active participant of this group.
"Cliff Kilgore has left huge leadership shoes to fill and I, like the other Council members, are indebted to him for all he has accomplished within the society on our behalf, building on the progress the founding members have made to bring ‘the nurses special interest group’ to BGS council status inclusive to AHPs too.
"I look forward to my two year tenure working with the new Deputy Chair, the Council members, the BGS Board of Trustees and the wonderful BGS staff team.”
Deputy Chair of the Nurses and AHPs Council - Frazer Underwood
Frazer Underwood is a Consultant Nurse for Older People, Associate Nurse Director at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, and Honorary Clinical Fellow at the University of Plymouth. Frazer has been practicing in the specialist filed of older people’s care for 25 years and was one of the early waves of consultant practitioners practicing in intermediate care and rehabilitation across acute, community and the care home sector in rural and inner-city services.
His current role spans the frailty pathway: coaching front-door practitioners and leading quality improvement activities; supporting community hospital frailty service change; and targeting support to a dementia registered care home in special measures. Frazer has been clinical lead for dementia care for the last eight years and his current academic activity is focused promoting clinical academic pathways across the non-medical workforce. Frazer is also in the final phase of a doctoral study exploring the meaning and understanding of confidence from the perspective of older people living with frailty.
Speaking of his experiences at the BGS, Frazer said: "I have been a member and passionate advocate of the BGS since 2011, and for the last three years I have been privileged to be Co-Deputy Chair of the Council, supporting the Chair to fulfil their duties as well as directly contributing to Council business and that of the wider Society.
"I will continue to bring extensive knowledge, experience and skills in older peoples and frailty care to this role with the British Geriatric Society and to its Council."