home care | British Geriatrics Society

Sarah Wallace, Head of Services at the Charity Crossroads Care CNL, talks about their Homeshare programme and how it is a scheme that helps older people keep their independence and remain in the home they love.

I like to think that as I get older, I will be able to keep my independence. But will increasing care costs mean that I’ll just struggle alone at home? Recently, I met Felicity who has recently struggled with ill health, meaning that she has had to consider alternative ways to maintain her independence. In this search, Felicity came across the new Homeshare programme which we run here at the charity Crossroads Care CNL.

Perfect match

The Homeshare scheme uses a ‘matching’ service which helped Felicity find someone to share her house with because her disabilities make it tough for her to live alone. The Homeshare scheme has changed her life and that of her sharer. Continue reading →

Prof David Oliver is BGS President-Elect, is a Consultant Geriatrician at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Visiting Professor of Medicine for Older People at City University London and a Kings Fund Visiting Fellow. He recently stood down from his role as National Clinical Director for Older People at the Department of Health.

This is my first blog since becoming President-Elect of the British Geriatrics Society. Alongside my day job as a busy coalface geriatrician, I have spent the best part of four years seconded to the Department of Health as a senior government advisor in the Civil Service. I resigned at the end of 2012 because I couldn’t reconcile my new role as a BGS officer with the role as National Clinical Director or (as the press would have it) “tsar”.

No longer bound by the Civil Service Code, I am free again to speak my mind. A particular issue I want to discuss here is the thorny subject of “admission prevention”, “admission avoidance”, “care closer to home”, “care outside hospital” – take your pick.

Continue reading →