Acute Care

This is the sixth 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.

An emergency laparotomy is one of the highest risk surgical procedures performed. Every year across the UK more than 24,000 emergency laparotomies are carried out.

Hospitalised older adults frequently present as depressed on our wards, but research suggests that healthcare staff often struggle to identify depression, let alone provide suitable care and support.

I took early retirement from my post as a consultant stroke physician at the end of 2017 but have continued to work in undergraduate medical education on a part-time basis. I am based in the Education Centre of the Trust where I have worked since 1997, so my return to clinical duties at the height of the pandemic was a temporary redeployment.

He was sitting on the bed. He had presented to the emergency room with fever and shortness of breath and was labeled a PUI - “Person Under Investigation.” Every time he took a deep breath, I saw his chest wall retract between his ribs.

Earlier this week I wrote about ongoing and sometimes over-polarised debates within British geriatric medicine, BGS membership, and government policy around community versus acute hospital care for older people with frailty who require skilled assessment and treatment.

The month of Ramadan has passed relatively quickly. I have spent some long days at work and at home being rather hungry and thirsty. I have been fasting for around 17hrs a day and am eager now to return to being able to eat and drink during daylight hours.