The BGS network of expert spokespeople is proving to be a great asset, enabling the BGS to respond to diverse press and media enquiries and leading to members participating in Department of Health workshops on the development of community services and the implementation of the Equality Act.
We are currently assisting BBC1 with a documentary about ageing and Channel 4 with a documentary about palliative care. We have provided advice to the BBC’s Watchdog team with regard to mobility products and responded to an article in The Guardian emphasising the need for geriatricians to be involved in the design of healthcare services to ensure older people receive treatment in appropriate settings.
Recent press coverage has included a Daily Telegraph article on research, which was presented at the BGS Spring Conference in Edinburgh, on the inadequacy of pedestrian crossing times for older people to cross the road safely. This sparked interest from Living Streets, a charity which has been campaigning for longer pedestrian crossing times.
Also in the run up to the Spring conference, the health editor of SAGA promoted the Age of Enlightenment public open morning in the online health section of the magazine’s website and the Edinburgh Evening News ran an opinion piece by John Starr questioning the need for dedicated hospital wards for older people, which sought to stimulate debate and encourage attendance at the open morning.
Community Care picked up on a BGS press release which drew attention to research into gaps in the teaching of geriatric medicine at UK medical schools, which was conducted by Adam Gordon and others at Nottingham University and published in the May issue of Age and Ageing. Age UK’s charity director Michelle Mitchell, provided a quote for the release, expressing concern that elder abuse is not being widely taught.
Zoe Wyrko wrote a thought-provoking programme foreword for the Bristol Old Vic’s novel production of ‘Juliet and Her Romeo’ which was set in a nursing home to challenge stereotypical ideas of love.
Sinead O’Mahony, in her capacity as Chair of the Drugs and Prescribing Section, is helping coordinate a special series of articles for the GP magazine Pulse on ‘Safe and Effective Prescribing for Older People’. Members of the section and other SIGs have submitted articles covering the issues involved for GPs in prescribing for older people with regard to hypertension, depression and anxiety, COPD and asthma, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure, and analgesics and NSAIDs. These articles will appear in due course on the BGS website.
Several BGS spokespeople participated in a media training workshop at the start of June to build their confidence and to equip them with the skills to effectively communicate key BGS messages when being interviewed. We have a waiting list of people wishing to take part in future media training opportunities.
The BGS manifesto prompted interest from Parliamentary candidates from the three main parties. Fifteen of those who contacted the BGS after receiving a copy have since been elected. Some briefing meetings have already taken place, notably in Wales. We will be following up interest from MPs as part of our political contact building and Parliamentary profile raising activity.
The BGS care home work continues apace. The BGS is coordinating and raising awareness of a survey of care home managers on behalf of the Older People’s Specialists Forum (OPSF). This is designed to gain an understanding of how easy care homes find it to access specialist healthcare professionals to meet the needs of their residents. Meanwhile, the BGS Care Homes project has appointed a researcher from the My Home Life team at City University to conduct a literature review of healthcare guidance and standards relating to the conditions relevant to care home residents and examples of successful care home delivery models. The BGS SIGs and Sections have been asked to nominate individuals to assist with the project, in terms of sharing their expertise with regard to specific long term conditions.
To support our efforts to work in partnership with other organisations, Sinead O’Mahony, in her capacity as Chair of the Academic and Research Committee, met Prof Steve Field, Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), to discuss scope for closer collaboration with regard to research, conference speakers and links between the two organisations. Alex Mair and I also met with representatives from the RCGP in May to progress opportunities for partnership working.
I will be going on maternity leave at the end of June but my replacement will continue to raise the profile of the specialty as the organisation of healthcare services comes under ever closer scrutiny.
Iona-Jane Harris
BGS Press, PR and Parliamentary Affairs Officer
