Acute Care

As we pass the winter solstice and the days start to lengthen, it feels hard to believe we will ever leave ‘winter’ in the NHS.

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 fourth blog in the BGS's 'Timely Discharge' Blog 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.

In early 2020, as an early career researcher, I was given the exciting opportunity to join an international collaboration to undertake a systematic review, an opportunity that was too good to turn down.

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.

Hurrah, the cavalry has appeared over the horizon! Whilst my hospital is well geared up for staff influenza vaccinations (something that I am proud to have been involved in instigating over 25 years ago), the COVID-19 vaccination programme requires a Herculean effort on behalf of the NHS and its staff, adding further strain on our already stretched services.

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.