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As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fifth month there is increasing focus within the UK on care home deaths. Latest figures show almost 5000 deaths were registered in the week ending 10 April, double the number a month prior.
We are in exceptional times, and people are providing care in extraordinary ways. On the 30th January 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
Getting older and having dementia increases the risk of health problems and can make it hard for people to keep their mouth and teeth clean. As a result, more oral health problems occur.
In my experience I have found three types of doctors; Those who work very fast, very slow or somewhere in the middle. This is obvious and logical as human behaviour is divided on the basis of a normal distribution, with most being average.
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.
Palliative care is relevant across the illness trajectory for people living and dying with chronic progressive conditions, aiming to improve quality of life and enable a peaceful death. With an ageing population, an increased proportion of older people will need to access care and support in a long term care facility.
Our team’s vision is to work in a proactive manner and identify patients living with moderate frailty who have unmet medical and social needs. Often, we find catching potential problems at a moderate frailty stage can significantly improve a patient’s quality of life and optimise their healthcare.
An award-winning paper published in Age and Ageing provides vital evidence for use by decision makers in the design, planning and provision of healthcare services for older people. Here two of the authors of the paper share their summary of the findings.
It was a crisp, cold December morning in London and my colleague and I were visiting Ethel, an 85-year-old woman who had been very difficult to contact as she is hearing impaired, has no next of kin and does not own a mobile or landline.
I knocked on the door. From behind the entrance Alan appeared weary and yet relieved to see a familiar face. I sat down with him and revisited our meeting a week prior when he came to see me complaining of widespread joint pain and weight loss for which no cause had been identified by the hospital specialists.
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 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.
Last week I was called by the ambulance team who were at the house of John, who had advanced dementia, had not been eating and drinking well for about a month and had fallen today.
When my team received National Institute for Health Research funding for ‘Understanding stakeholders’ perspectives on implementing deprescribing in care homes’ (or STOPPING) study in 2019, we were looking forward to 2020.
Care closer to home is a familiar term for geriatricians. Emergency attendance and acute hospital admissions have been steadily rising over the last 10 years and this, coupled with a reduction in inpatient beds across acute and community sectors, has led to challenges in managing capacity in many acute Trusts.