Older people are too often not getting the kind of care which NHS staff would wish for their own parents. Alastair McLellan introduces HSJ’s first ever commission, which will explore how to tackle the most pressing issue facing the NHS

Elderly woman in a hospital trolley alone in a corridor

Commission on the hospital care of the frail elderly

Commission on the hospital care of the frail elderly NOT FOR REUSE

The future hospital care of frail older people is of great importance in an NHS that serves an ageing population, and which over the rest of the decade is likely to see only flat funding in real terms.

‘The issue is too important not to have as many minds working on it as possible’

Our ageing population in many ways symbolises the success of the economy, the welfare state and the NHS. With old age comes long-term conditions and higher risk factors, putting pressure on health and social care delivery systems.

I am delighted that University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust chief executive Dame Julie Moore has agreed to chair this commission, and welcome her fellow commissioners Professor John Appleby, Professor Julienne Meyer, John Myatt, Professor David Oliver and Jenny Ritchie-Campbell. Their expert input and questioning will help the commission to focus relentlessly on practical solutions.

The commission’s deliberations will be reported in HSJ, with a scoping report appearing early in 2014. It will produce its main report in the autumn of 2014, with an updated version in March 2015 to inform the pre-electoral health and care debate.

Your help is just as important to the success of HSJ’s first commission. Find out how to submit short pieces of written evidence for the attention of the commission. We urge you to take part – the issue is too important not to have as many minds working on it as possible.

Alastair McLellan is editor of HSJ

Topics