Health and social care policy

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The British Geriatrics Society welcomes improved access to primary care

31 January 2019

The British Geriatrics Society (BGS) welcomes the announcement of a new five-year plan for the NHS in England

‘The NHS long term plan must meet the needs of our ageing population’, says British Geriatrics Society’s President

30 August 2018

Eileen Burns, President of the British Geriatrics Society, is calling for the NHS 10 ten year plan to meet the needs our ageing population.

News

BGS calls for a reform of primary care to deliver better healthcare and treatment for older people

22 August 2018

The British Geriatrics Society’s ‘Position Statement on Primary Care for Older People’ published today calls for more care and treatment to be delivered in the community to be better meet the needs of our ageing population, and urges the Government to build this into the long term plans for the NHS.

News

What do patients want? Priorities for change in the NHS

20 August 2019

“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.”

Blog

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?

Blog

Supporting social care and the funding it urgently needs

20 June 2019

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.

Blog

Why physicians support social care solutions

20 June 2019

Blog

The primary care ship lurched significantly in early March with the arrival of the new NHS England (NHSE) GP contract

25 April 2019

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.

Blog

Health inequalities are present in the old and young

29 March 2019

Blog

The essential need to educate all about age and ageing

01 March 2019

The population is ageing and more and more professionals are required to work with older people wherever that may be; in specialist services, primary care, care homes, acute surgery or in an emergency department and everywhere.

Blog

UTOCs – Unnecessary Transfers of Care

31 January 2019

One of my least favourite moments of my otherwise very enjoyable MDT meeting is when we come to discuss the new admissions on our rehab ward that week. There are two types of transfer which seem to be increasingly common. Let’s call them Mr Smith and Mr Jones…

Blog

From Beer to Nosokinetics - it’s all in the flow! – Part Deux.

17 December 2018

Part 1 of this riveting tale of healthcare business management, as seen through the eyes of an erstwhile trader in beer, set the scene.

Blog

From Beer to Nosokinetics - it's all in the flow!

12 December 2018

Nosokinetics – a great word upon which to hang the peg of my understanding and progress. Publication of an associated bi-monthly newsletter had provided a repository of published analysis and knowledge related to the subject. Brilliant thinks I; and with glee noted all that had been written and provided to those interested up to 2010. Then the newsletter stopped and Nosokinetics apparently lost to the sands of time!

Blog

NHS – An overcrowded bus

30 October 2018

NHS has been in a crisis for a few years now and if anyone thinks it can’t get any worse, they are in for a shock. It is like an overcrowded bus which keeps picking up passengers at every stop where more people get in than that get out. The bus is jam packed with little space to manoeuvre, untidy, and is tipping dangerously.

Blog

Working Together Across the Great Healthcare Divide

02 October 2018

It’s traditional to start any piece of writing on older people with frailty with a reminder that there are a lot of them, and that there will be a lot more of them in the future. This will not come as a surprise to frequenters of the British Geriatrics Society website.

Blog

Drinking, smoking and badminton – reaching a consensus on falls prevention

24 September 2018

Muscle weakness and poor balance are key risk factors for falls. I have long thought that if we would work out a population approach this would be a great step forward in the area of falls prevention.

Blog

Community services – do they compare to what it says on the tin?

13 September 2018

People may argue that services in the community must be developed to provide care appropriate to the needs of the population now and in the future, but how can this be done?

Blog

BGS withdraws support for the Health and Social Care Bill

04 March 2012

The British Geriatrics Society calls for the Government to withdraw the Health and Social Care Bill.

Blog

Autumn Meeting 2018

14 November 2018

LONDON

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.

Autumn Conference

Welsh Continuing Care consultation

08 July 2019

The Welsh Government is consulting on changes to NHS Continuing Healthcare and we need your help with the BGS response.

Policy

BGS response to the Welsh Government's strategy on tackling loneliness and social isolation

24 January 2019

The BGS has submitted a response to the Welsh Government's 'Connected communities - Tackling loneliness and social isolation' strategy.

Policy

Policy Report - Autumn 2018

25 October 2018

The Policy Report which was published in the October issue of the BGS Newsletter

Policy

Our priorities for the NHS long term plan

30 August 2018

Our priorities include a reform of the way services are delivered so that more care and treatment is available in community settings. We are calling for this to be built into the development and delivery of the NHS long term plan.

Policy

Position statement on primary care for older people

22 August 2018

This paper sets out our views on how primary care can deliver better health outcomes for older people. We call for the changes required to achieve this to be built into the Government’s long term plans for the NHS.

Policy

Social care: a summary of the framework and BGS's policy engagement

15 August 2018

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.

Policy

BGS Policy Update: Summer 2018

15 August 2018

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.

Policy

BGS Response on the Prime Minister's Challenge on Dementia 2020

04 May 2018

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

Policy

BGS Policy Update, Spring 2018

01 May 2018

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.

Policy