Survey of training in geriatric medicine in UK undergraduate medical schools

SIR—The view that the study of human ageing and healthcare needs of older people should form part of the undergraduate medical curriculum is supported by the World Health Organization, the Royal College of Physicians of London and the General Medical Council [1–3]. Surveys in the 1980s showed that geriatric medicine was being taught in almost all medical schools, most commonly by a compulsory attachment to a hospital-based department of geriatric medicine [4, 5]. Since then, many changes have taken place both in the way in which services for older people are provided and in the organisation of medical schools. For example, acute hospital care of older people is now integrated with general medicine, and the growth of academic departments of geriatric medicine has been stalled [6]. Furthermore, General Medical Council guidance is that student-selected components should comprise a quarter to a third of the curriculum [7]. The continuing demand for geriatricians and others required to treat the increasing numbers of older people [8], coupled with concerns that training opportunities for undergraduates have been reduced, suggested it was timely to undertake this review. We report the results of a survey of the teaching of geriatric medicine and human ageing in UK medical schools.