Policy & Media

The BGS takes a leading role in policy debates and media outreach relating to healthcare for older people, acting as a voice for our members and the specialty of geriatrics.

In our policy and media work we promote the need for:

  • An end to the divide between health and social care.
  • Increased investment in health and  social care for older people.
  • Access to comprehensive geriatric assessment, personalised care plans for treatment and follow-up for all older people with frailty, dementia, complex and multiple and long term conditions.
  • The building of greater capacity in  intermediate care.
  • Staff across all care sectors to develop competencies in the management of older patients.
  • Measures of care to focus on what matters most to older people and their families.

We respond to public consultations to inform and influence the development of healthcare policy with the aim of ensuring that the key changes that we are calling for are addressed.

The BGS produces publications including clinical best practice guidance, and is involved with a number of collaborative projects and pilots across the UK.

Journalists seeking information about our work, or expert comment on older people’s healthcare, please visit our Media Enquiries page.

The BGS is increasingly seen as an important and powerful voice advocating for older people."

Dr Eileen Burns, NHS England National specialty adviser for older people
and integrated person-centred care, and BGS Past President

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E.g., 06/12/2024
E.g., 06/12/2024

Response from British Geriatrics Society to RCGP’s consultation - Towards a Future Vision for General Practice  

02 November 2018
Responding to the RCGP's consultation on a future vision for general practice, the Society recommends, based on our experience and expertise in working with older people, that there are some significant changes to general practice that would result in better health outcomes for all older people, whether they are living with mild, moderate or severe frailty, or are staying relatively healthy and ageing well.  An increased focus on the prevention of deterioration and the optimisation of independence is needed for people living with multiple long-term conditions.  Identifying frailty at an early stage and providing earlier interventions for those people at greatest risk of developing frailty is central to this.  Stratifying frailty using frailty identification tools such as the electronic frailty index (e-FI) for patients aged 60 and above, and those people most at risk of adverse events, including hospitalisation, nursing home admission and death should be fully embedded in the service provided by general practice.  BGS warmly welcomed the introduction in 2017 of the routine frailty identification requirements for GPs.  However, the use of e-FI requires clinical correlation and the risk that false positives and negatives will sometimes arise from use of a statistical tool must be considered and addressed as part of the frailty identification process. 

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