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United Kingdom
The British Geriatrics Society
Some facts on demography and geriatrics in the United Kingdom…
Total population: 66,435,500
Percentage above 65 Yr: 18.3%
Percentage above 80 Yr: 4.9%
>75 years 8.3%
> 85 years 2.4%
Number of physicians: 15.727 (UK)
Number of geriatricians: 1,630 (UK)
Total number of hospital beds: Approximately 2.4/1000 population (UK)
Number of geriatric beds: not known
Geriatrics is recognised as a...
- speciality since >20 years
Geriatric medicine is found in...
- acute care hospitals as acute geriatric wards
- out-patient care settings
- post-acute rehabilitation hospitals/clinics
- nursing homes or long term care facilities
As well as working on acute geriatric wards in acute care hospitals, geriatricians are increasingly playing a role in front-door services, based as a core element of the emergency department or acute medical admissions unit. They also work as part of teams concerned with other hospital specialities, some of which are already recognised as sub-speciality areas such as orthogeriatrics or movement disorders. They are increasingly involved with oncology (Oncogeriatrics), acute and elective general and orthopaedic surgery (POPS), and other areas such as vascular surgery and cardiology. Geriatricians provide the majority of Stroke services in most UK hospitals.
Members of the society
Total number of Members as at August 2019: 3756
MEMBERS BY PROFESSION
Consultant or equivalent 1293
SpRs 607
SAS/Staff Grade doctors 187
CMT/IMT 132
Foundation Year 94
Medical Students 114
Clinical Fellows 40
Other physicians 4
GPs 98
GP with a special interest in Older People 15
GP Trainee 18
Nurses 158
Student Nurse 23
Advance Nurse Practitioners 60
Care Home Nurse 3
Physiotherapist 108
Occupational Therapist 34
Advanced Clinical Practitioner 25
Speech and Language Therapist 4
OT - Dietitian 3
Student AHP 19
Preceptorship Year for Nurse/AHP 5
Researcher - Ageing and Age-related conditions 30
Pharmacist 28
Other AHPs- Profession not specified 21
Physician Associate 5
Clinical Manager 2
Paramedic 6
Scientist: Non-Medic 3
Retired members 165
Overseas Members 175
Journal
"Age and Ageing" has a worldwide reputation for publishing refereed original articles and commissioned reviews on geriatric medicine and gerontology. It has become increasingly influential among geriatrics and gerontology publications. The journal’s current ‘impact factor’ (a standard metric of journals’ influence) is 4.511 (as at June 19), and is placed 9th in the international ranking of comparable journals (53 in total).
Special interest groups within society
Currently, we have 16 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Sections, as follows:
- Anaemia
- Bladder and Bowel Health
- Cardiovascular
- Community Geriatrics
- Dementia and Related Mental Health Disorders
- Drugs and Prescribing
- Ethics and Law
- Falls and Bone Health
- Frailty and Sarcopenia Research
- Fraility in Urgent Care Settings
- Gastroenterology / Nutrition
- Movement Disorders
- Oncology
- Proactive Care of Older People Undergoing Surgery (POPS)
- Respiratory
- Telecare/Telehealth
Further details on our SIGs and Sections can be found here: https://www.bgs.org.uk/bgs-groups.
A different society, completely separate from our own, is the membership association for UK-based gerontologists - for more information please visit following website: www.britishgerontology.org
Other activities…
Meetings:
The British Geriatrics Society has two UK-wide national meetings every year (Spring and Autumn), held in different cities. There is a rolling programme of educational content as well as research presentations and sub-meetings of the special interest groups and sections.
In addition, our national councils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each run one or two clinical meetings each year, and many of the regions of England also run scientific/educational meetings.
As well as these, the BGS has several special interest groups and sections (eg. Falls and Bone Health, Cardiovascular, Continence, Movement Disorders, POPS etc.) and these groups also organise regular stand-alone educational meetings. Regular meetings for trainees are also held annually.
Full details on our meetings programme can be found here:
https://www.bgs.org.uk/events/
Research centres in the United Kingdom
The British Geriatrics Society encourages clinicians, nurses and AHPs to engage in research. There are several centres of excellence in ageing research around the UK. Some of these specialise in particular sub-specialisms of geriatric medicine; a map giving the location of the centres can be found here: https://www.bgs.org.uk/resources/research-centres
Contact details
The president of the Society:
Prof. Jugdeep Dhesi
General Assembly member in the EuGMS:
Prof. Jugdeep Dhesi
Email: jugdeep.dhesi(at)gstt.nhs.uk
Website: www.bgs.org.uk
News
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