The British Geriatrics Society (BGS) hosted an event in London in September 2023 on ideas and practice around a minimum dataset for care homes. This report, which is based on presentations at the event and the debate that followed, makes 12 recommendations for the effective implementation and delivery of a national minimum dataset that we believe policy-makers and regulators should consider.
The BGS regularly responds to external consultations by the UK government and those of the devolved nations that relate to older people's health, social care and wider issues, such as workforce. On this page you can find copies of our responses to recent consultations.
This report examines the geriatrician workforce needed to provide high-quality care for an ageing population with increasingly complex needs.
This report looks at data collected by the Royal College of Physicians on the consultant workforce.
A collaborative collection on the topic of economics of ageing and pensions, from Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Journal of Public Health, and Age and Ageing.
Presentations from 2021 South East and South West Thames Joint Region Meeting (4 CPD Points)
This BGS position statement sets out the benefits of less than full time (LTFT) working in geriatric medicine for both individuals and organisations, and provides six guiding principles as well as tips for sucessful flexible working.
Read our letters to the Health Ministers in each of the four nations of the UK asking them to take urgent action to protect older people during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This section of the BGS guidance on end of life care in older people encourages the multidisciplinary team to consider social, practical and emotional needs.
GeriGPs and the GeriGP group of the BGS offer a constructive solution to some of the challenges facing the NHS.
The BGS SE & SW Thames Joint Region Meeting 2019 was held on 16 October 2019 in West Sussex.
This report is intended to explore how messages of prevention and healthy ageing apply to a population group that may already be ill and frail, and to the healthcare professionals who care for them.
Over 400,000 older people in the UK live in care homes, including nearly one in six over-85s, and they often have complex health and social care needs. We have produced guidance for commissioners to promote better models of medical care for care home residents.
On 13th November 2022, The Daily Mail published an article raising concerns about the safety of older people being admitted to emergency departments this winter. The article included an interview with Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, highlighting increased waiting times, high hospital occupancy rates and delayed discharges due to lack of social care.
The BGS welcomes the House of Commons Health and Social Care and Science and Technology Committees’ joint report Coronavirus: lessons learned to date.
The British Geriatrics Society welcomes the new GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) national report on geriatric medicine. The report identifies unwarranted variation in the provision of geriatric medicine across England and in hospital care for people living with frailty and makes recommendations for improvement.
The BGS is aware of claims in the Telegraph today (31 July) that plans were drawn up before the COVID-19 pandemic to deny hospital treatment to older people living in care homes, in the event of a pandemic or other health emergency.
The British Geriatrics Society supported the recommendation of the Chief Medical Officers of the four nations to extend the interval between the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. This approach aimed to protect the greatest number of at-risk people overall in the shortest possible time, to have the greatest impact on reducing mortality, severe disease and hospitalisations and to protect the NHS and equivalent health services.
As the country approaches winter and an almost-certain second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the British Geriatrics Society is relieved to see the Government taking action to provide additional support to care homes and other social care providers in England.
On Thursday 6 February, NHS England and the British Medical Association (BMA) agreed and published the Update to the GP contract agreement 2020/21-2023/24 which incorporates the service specifications for the Network Contract Direct Enhanced Service.
The UK is experiencing a cost of living crisis and older people are particularly vulnerable to the impact this has on their health. Age UK estimated that 1.1 million older households were in fuel poverty at the end of 2021. A year later and this figure has almost trebled. An estimated 8,500 people died last year in England and Wales as a result of living in cold homes.
As we pass the winter solstice and the days start to lengthen, it feels hard to believe we will ever leave ‘winter’ in the NHS. Back-to-back ‘crises’ for health and social care, a perfect storm of a continuing pandemic/pandemic recovery, a chronically under-funded and under-staffed health service and social care sector and a cost of living crisis mean that our patients are going to struggle even more than usual this winter.
We should never lose sight that most older people live well in older age. However, we are also very familiar with the challenge of a population that is ageing with all the risks associated with co-morbidities and complex health and social care issues.
I recently had a very nice weekend away in Haworth, West Yorkshire. The literary aficionados among us will instantly be familiar with this, as it was the home of the Bronte sisters of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall fame.
Today, Saturday 1 October, is the UN’s International Day of Older Persons. Each year the UN takes a particular thematic focus: this year it is ‘The Resilience and Contributions of Older Women’. It is an opportune moment to reflect on older women’s experience of healthcare.
This is the eighth blog in the BGS’s ‘Timely Discharge’ series. We aim to raise awareness of the detrimental effects on older people of being stuck in hospital when they are 'medically fit for discharge'. Our blog series explores the causes of delayed discharges, the knock-on effects to the wider health and social care system, and what needs to change.
This is the third blog in the BGS’s ‘Timely Discharge’ series. We aim to raise awareness of the detrimental effects on older people of being stuck in hospital when they are 'medically fit for discharge'. Our blog series explores the causes of delayed discharges, the knock-on effects to the wider health and social care system, and what needs to change.
This is the second blog in the BGS’s ‘Timely Discharge’ series. We aim to raise awareness of the detrimental effects on older people of being stuck in hospital when they are 'medically fit for discharge'. Our blog series explores the causes of delayed discharges, the knock-on effects to the wider health and social care system, and what needs to change.
This is the first blog in the BGS’s ‘Timely Discharge’ Blog Series which seeks to address the issue of older people getting stuck in hospital for want of care once they are discharged from a variety of perspectives.
This year’s theme for the International Day of Older Persons is digital equity for all ages. This is timely given the acceleration of the use of digital communications and services during the pandemic and the risks that some people, particularly older people, could be left behind. In Wales 41% of people over the age of 75 are not online and are at an increasing disadvantage in many aspects of life as a result.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the worst period that many people have lived through. However, for health and social care, it has also led to some of the greatest innovation and transformation, demonstrating how partnership working across traditional systems and boundaries can truly be achieved when everything is being routed through one funding source.
HIV/AIDS taught us the importance of public sex education. Now, COVID-19 teaches us the need for public death education.
It is a commonly accepted principle that demand for healthcare always outstrips resources, and so in the UK’s publicly funded health system, it is important to look at how and where costs are being incurred to make sure we are making the best use of limited resources.
“Well, they’re obviously over-stretched and under-staffed, aren’t they? It’s not personal care any more is it, you’re more like a number, they get you in and get you out.”
Ten have been whittled down to two and it is now for the membership of the Conservative Party to decide whether they want Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt as their next leader and, subsequently, the next Prime Minister. Much of the focus of this campaign has been on the future of the UK’s relationship with the European Union. Are we leaving on 31 October or not? Deal or no deal? What exactly are WTO terms? Can I still go to Majorca for my summer holidays?
While integrated care is being discussed, Lucy Lewis, consultant practitioner trainee specialising in frailty and older people at Health Education England (Wessex), gives some startling figures that reinforce the value of social care systems and the call for increased funding.
Titled “Investment and Evolution” and sporting the NHS flagship blue and white livery it made many bold statements. First up, the extortionate premiums in indemnity coverage that GPs face will end, thanks to state backed indemnity. Nice.
The BGS Spring Meeting 2021 is taking place on 28-30 April. Click here to view the programme, register or find out how to join online live or on demand.
The BGS Autumn Meeting will cover the latest scientific research and the best clinical practice in care of older people. Our ageing population is stimulating extensive NHS service redesign to deal with the challenge of caring for larger numbers of older people both in and out of hospitals.
The BGS welcomes a new report published by the Senedd Health and Social Care Committee, Hospital discharge and its impact on patient flow through hospitals. This report concludes the Committee’s inquiry into this topic to which BGS was pleased to submit both written and oral evidence.
Late on Friday 21 August, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a £588 million fund to support people being discharged from hospital. We encourage BGS members with any questions about how this funding will be implemented to come forward and we will pass these onto NHS England for clarification.
The Welsh Government is consulting on changes to NHS Continuing Healthcare and we need your help with the BGS response.
The BGS has submitted a response to the Welsh Government's 'Connected communities - Tackling loneliness and social isolation' strategy.
The Policy Report which was published in the October issue of the BGS Newsletter
A lot of our policy and influencing work in the last year has focused on social care and the health impacts for older people, and the associated implications for our members' work, when there are difficulties in accessing good quality social care.
In order to make progress against our policy aims and objectives BGS engages in a mix of proactive and reactive activity. All of it is evidence-based and focused on the unique contribution that the Society is able to bring to inform policy development decisions. Some of it involves keeping a watching brief on external developments that have an impact on our members’ work and on the healthcare of older people. In this update I have provided a summary of recent developments and some of the engagement we have had.
The BGS responded to the review of the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020 by Department of Health and Social Care. While lauding the progress made in promotion of public messages, the BGS remains concerned that cuts to public health funding are a barrier to spreading the public health message
There have been lots of positive opportunities for engaging with key opinion formers and decision makers in the last few months. We have been busy making the most of these opportunities, as well as continuing to build and strengthen our links with other organisations that we want to work with.