Patient/Family Involvement

One of the joys of general practice is seeing the same patients over time and getting to know them and their families. I worked in the same small practice for over twenty years and saw people go from active sixty-somethings, slowing down in their seventies, and then becoming frail in their eighties.

This year’s theme for the International Day of Older Persons is digital equity for all ages. This is timely given the acceleration of the use of digital communications and services during the pandemic and the risks that some people, particularly older people, could be left behind.

Although we’ve been in the grip of the pandemic for a little over a year now, in reality it feels more like a decade, with new restrictions, new lockdowns, and fortunately - thanks to vaccines and increased testing -, finally some new emerging hope that we may soon regain a semblance of normality.

Resy Manalo, Lalaine Lopez Pesario, Gilbert Barnedo, Elsie Sazuze, Suzanne Loverseed and Karen Hutton are some of the care home workers who lost their lives during the coronavirus pandemic.

Effective communication lies at the heart of all good healthcare. It is particularly important in the care of older people, because of the complexity of common exchanges.

I can’t believe that I hadn’t heard of the Sandwich Generation until I became a slice of meat squashed between two slices of bread. It was October 2019: my mother-in-law had sustained a large frontal lobe haemorrhage and my father-in-law was already living with Parkinson’s disease.

I have been a nurse since 1986, mainly working in end of life or dementia care. I have had a variety of roles in the hospital, care home, community and hospice settings. I have been a family carer (alongside my brother and sister) since 2002.

Chaired by BGS Past President Dr Eileen Burns, the five nation care home meeting gave participants an opportunity to share their experiences of managing COVID in care home settings and to compare what worked well and what didn’t.

On the 20th March the usual discussion, laughter, sounds of people coming and going, and noises of normal life fell eerily silent. We had gone into a national state of ‘lock down’. I had always avoided using the phrase if we had needed to close our care home to visitors previously, but now it actually felt appropriate.  We were locked down and locked in.

The BGS is committed to celebrating all endeavours that seek to improve care for older people. As many of us know, this takes input, expertise and often kindness, from a wide range of people, encompassing healthcare professionals, but also volunteers, carers and family members.

Out of hospital care for older people, such as hospital-at-home, is being delivered in a number of countries as an alternative to hospitalisation for a select group of older people.

We live in the worst of times and now, perhaps the very worst of times. The thing, I’ve always found, about being a ‘carer’ is that you don’t realise that you’re a carer until you’re quite advanced into the job.

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.

I love being a doctor and hospitals have long been something of a comfort zone; predictable, with protocols, and plans, and SOPs. To me, they often feel more controlled than the unpredictable world outside.

Person-centred care, for those who are enthusiastic about it like me, can at times feel like a religion. To be a pure follower of this approach, it means respecting the holistic aspects of a person, including perhaps interests and beliefs.