The topic content is divided into the information types below
Feeling anxious from time to time is a normal human experience. When someone is anxious they might experience feelings of tension, nervousness, heightened awareness, fear or uncertainty, dry mouth and throat, and tightness in the chest.
What is mental capacity? What do we really mean when we ask if a patient has (or lacks) capacity? Capacity often depends on context. The ethical conundrum of mental capacity unravelled.
Ten per cent of patients admitted to hospital as an emergency stay more than two weeks, using 55 per cent of all hospital bed days, and 80 per cent of that group are aged over 65 years. The average age of a hospital inpatient is over 80.
People with dementia are not children. They are adults with a lifetime’s experience. Yet they are not entirely dissimilar. They are vulnerable and they can be as distressed and disoriented as a child.
How Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has concentrated on engaging with its staff to help them focus on the essentials of caring. It has come up with simple effective solutions to help improve the treatment, dignity and care of older people.
Advance care planning (including end of life discussions) is being promoted as part of the NHS end of life care strategy. Such discussions require great care. The BGS with others have prepared guidelines on advance care planning which we summarise here.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards are protections for adults who lack mental capacity to consent to, say, admission to hospital or a care home for treatment or care. Caroline Cooke and Premila Fade assess why they are being reviewed and the Law Commission's proposals.
This page offers some real-world examples and experiences of CGA being implemented into older people's services. We invite BGS members and colleagues to share their success stories, tips, and learnings.
This list of preferred and non-preferred terminology has been compiled to help healthcare professionals, academic authors and the general public avoid language that might be deemed unacceptable or inappropriate when describing the health of older people.
A network of charities and volunteers exist to support many aspects of older people's lives, in areas such as care, wellbeing, and health research. This issue celebrates the people and organisations who work tirelessly to help improve the quality of live and health of older people. This content is limited to members only.
This issue looks at how placing older people at the centre of their care helps to ensure their needs and wishes are met. This content is limited to members only.
Many of our most important and fun moments relate to our family, explains David Attwood.
'Fun' and 'safe' do not have to be opposite concepts, writes Susan Shenkin.
Trisha Elliott reflects on how she would like fun to be guarded when she approaches frailty in older age.
Consider whether an activity will bring joy to an older person over whether it is socially appropriate, says Jenni Mack.
Talk to residents about what they want to achieve and you might be surprised, says Caroline Benham.
The assessment of driving risk can be difficult for clinicians. These Guidelines set out the responsibilities of clinicians to their patients, and provide a framework for thinking about the management of their driving safety.