BGS publishes new report examining workforce data

01 September 2022
Education, Training and Careers, Workforce

The British Geriatrics Society (BGS) has published a report examining data collected by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on the consultant and Higher Specialty Trainee geriatric medicine workforce. This data, which was collected between 2019 and 2021 as part of the RCP’s annual workforce census, demonstrates the staffing challenges facing older people’s healthcare. Despite the growth in medical student places, there are not enough specialist healthcare professionals being trained and retained to meet the needs of the population as it ages.

The BGS’s geriatric medicine workforce 2022 report uses census data to give a snapshot of geriatric medicine consultants by age, gender and ethnicity. It calculates the number of consultants per head of the population, thereby highlighting parts of the country that are particularly poorly served in terms of senior expertise. It shows that consultants and trainees in geriatric medicine are more likely to work less than full time than other specialties, and that they also undertake a larger share of general medicine roles in hospital than their colleagues in other specialties.
 
The overall shortfall of staff is revealed through the survey, showing that more than two thirds (68%) of geriatric medicine consultants report locum staffing vacancies within their Trust. Nearly half said that they had unsuccessfully tried to recruit a consultant in the last two years. It takes an average of 16 years from entry to medical school to train a consultant geriatrician, meaning that even a substantial increase in the number of medical training places will take many years to make an impact on this shortfall.

The nature of the rapidly ageing UK population means the NHS cannot simply wait for new geriatricians to be trained. The BGS’s new report advocates for practical solutions to be developed to support and empower the current workforce to care for the older population. Such initiatives must focus on the recruitment, retention, development and support of the specialist multidisciplinary workforce across different care settings.

 
In addition to this, there needs to be encouragement, support and training of healthcare professionals from other specialities to look after older populations more effectively. Older people comprise the NHS’s largest user group and, with the exception of those involved in child and maternity services, all healthcare professionals will be likely to care for older people more than any other population group. It is therefore vital that they have an understanding of frailty and other complex conditions that affect older people.
 

Dr Jennifer Burns, BGS President, commented:

Our analysis of the Census data from the Royal College of Physicians confirms that there are not enough geriatricians for the current and future care needs of the older population. A substantial increase in the number of medical training places is sorely needed but will take many years to come to fruition. In the meantime, it is essential that there is planning and action to make the most of the existing workforce, and that healthcare professionals are properly supported after the gruelling years of the COVID pandemic.”

Dr Amit Arora, BGS Vice President for Workforce, commented:

Care for older people is best provided through the expertise of a multidisciplinary team. The RCP Census data provides an illustration of the shortfall of consultants and higher specialty trainees in geriatric medicine and shows how working patterns are changing. If the NHS is to be prepared for the demographic reality of an ageing population, it must use a range of means to support the recruitment, retention and development of specialists across the different professions caring for older people and recognise the need to skill up the wider workforce too.’’

Read the full report here.