Region overview
The South West region covers the area including:
- Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
- Devon
- Somerset
- Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
- Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire
- Dorset
- Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
Meet South 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.
No content associated with the South West Group found.
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South West Officers
Our Region Co-Chairs share an update every quarter, highlighting key developments, successes, and priorities from across their region.
- The region continues to see work pressure which we realise has become the new normal and coping with larger numbers of older people in crisis is a challenge. But with the ever-increasing use of hospital at home and SDEC, healthcare teams are working to reduce the need for inpatient care for older people living with frailty.
- University Hospitals Dorset are hosting a Wessex Elderly Care training day on the 15 June at Poole Hospital with Dr Tom Bartlett attending from a BGS membership perspective.
- The region recently celebrated International Nurses’ Day (12 May) with most areas providing opportunities to celebrate our nursing workforce.
- Funding in the South West will enable the training of more nurses as part of the Government’s commitment to fund more nurse degree apprenticeships and break down long-standing barriers into healthcare careers.
- Teams and individuals across the South West celebrated in April after being named regional champions in the first NHS Excellence Awards, recognising outstanding work to improve care for patients, communities and staff. The NHS Excellence Awards are the only awards run by, and for, the NHS.
The winter has been a challenge for much of the region, with significant viral illness affecting both patients and staff. Despite this, there continues to be strong commitment from community and acute services to improving care for older people through initiatives such as same day emergency care services and hospital-at-home models. These developments are significant, and many colleagues will recognise similar work taking place within their own practice areas.
Some may be aware of the recent major incident in Hampshire, when a significant fire at Southampton General Hospital resulted in the loss of more than 200 beds. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but the event placed considerable pressure on services across the area and on patient care. One positive outcome was the way partner organisations across the region worked together to respond to the loss of capacity, with a strong emphasis on a “home first” approach. It was encouraging to see this collaboration in action and it reminds us that there are now many options available in the care of older people, and that not all emergencies require inpatient admission.
Other news includes excellent work from Health Innovation Wessex, collaborating with clinical leads in Hampshire and the University of Southampton on measuring the complexity of patients cared for within hospital-at-home services. This work will help build a stronger evidence base for these models of care.
There is also an Advancing Practice Conference taking place this month in Hampshire, celebrating the development of advanced roles across healthcare and the growing contribution of these practitioners to patient care.
