RCP comment on secretary of state's 'treating patients as people’ speech

Every day our hospitals are faced with the challenge of an ageing population. Nearly two thirds of people admitted to hospital are over 65 years old and many have multiple complex conditions, including dementia.

Future Hospital: Caring for medical patients recommended that care should come to patients rather than patients being moved around the hospital, with specialist medical teams working not only in specialist wards, but across the hospital. In addition, medical teams will reach outside the hospital to deliver care in or closer to the patient’s home. This will mean changing the working patterns of doctors and other healthcare professionals.

In future, we will also need more doctors who have the knowledge and skills to diagnose, manage and  coordinate continuing care for the increasing number of patients who have multiple and complex conditions, including the older patient with frailty and dementia. This will mean changes to the education and training of doctors and a focus on the generalist skills needed to do this.

We welcome the secretary of state’s support for a ‘whole stay doctor’ who is responsible for the standard of care delivered to each patient during their hospital stay. The Future Hospital report had recommended that there should be a named consultant responsible for the whole of the patient’s stay.

Patients and carers should know where they can receive information about their care. Every patient should be given information about which consultant is responsible for their care and how they can be contacted.

The RCP’s Future Hospital Programme has set out a vision for acute medical services that are centred on the needs of patients. We are currently working with potential partners in the NHS to develop implementation of Future Hospital.

For further information, please contact Morgan Evans, RCP communications and new media adviser, on +44 (0)20 3075 1468 / 0779 508 8253, or email Morgan.Evans@rcplondon.ac.uk