Episodes
| Series | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The State We're In | 20170905 | 20170906 (R4) | As the National Health Service and social services struggle to meet the needs of today's ageing population, Dr Kevin Fong reflects back on his own medical career to explore why this is now such a challenge and what's being done to address it. In this opening programme, Kevin reveals how professionals, working on the front line in health and social care, try to address the complex needs of older people, whether it's discharging them from hospital or trying to support them in the community. Many older people are not only frail but have multiple illnesses, and many have memory problems. So they often need a combination of 'health' and 'social' care, funded partly by the NHS, which is free for all, and by social services, which is means-tested. Working out who should pay for what aspect of the care & equipment a person needs, to ensure they are safe and well supported is a daily challenge for those working on the front line in hospitals and in the community. Hospitals are overwhelmed with the old and frail, many of whom no longer need medical treatment. The care arrangements can be so complex for some that discharge is delayed, by not just days but weeks or months. As resources become more stretched, this question of who pays for what is becoming all the more critical. Producer: Beth Eastwood. Dr Kevin Fong examines why meeting the needs of our ageing population is such a challenge. Dr Kevin Fong meets the people with new ideas to meet the needs of an ageing population |
| 01 | What's The Solution? | 20170912 | 20170913 (R4) | Today there is a growing number of older people with many medical and social needs. We are in a sense victims of our own success: life expectancy increased by thirty years over the course of the last century. As a result today we have a growing population of older people with increasingly complex needs. Dr Kevin Fong, who worked in elderly care as a junior doctor, looks at pilot projects that are trying to integrate hospital, social and community care. He visits the Integrated Independence Team at the Homerton Hospital in East London and finds out about a telemedicine project in East Lancashire that links care homes with nurses to prevent their residents making unnecessary visits to hospital. Kevin discusses the question of whether these projects could save money with Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust health charity. And he hears from Gerald Wistow, Visiting Professor of Social Policy at the LSE that attempts to integrate health and social care go back to the beginning of the NHS. Dr Kevin Fong explores ways to improve the health and social care needs of the elderly. Dr Kevin Fong meets the people with new ideas to meet the needs of an ageing population |