The Spanish society for geriatric medicine demand the implementation a comprehensive plan of care to the fragile elderly and disabled.

-geriatric care allows us to optimize costs to avoid the dependency and disability

-the campaign save a viejo.com tries to make a call on the need that elders are cared for by specialists for the elderly, the geriatricians

Madrid, March 2012.- there are an estimated in Spain nearly two and a half million people over 65 that are fragile or have some type of disability. They are for this group for which the Spanish society of geriatric medicine (SEMEG) demand the implementation of a comprehensive care plan. As says, the President of the SEMEG, doctor Juan Macias, Spain will be in the middle of the 21st century the more aged country in the world with 20% of the population 65 years of age or older. Currently, there are more than six and a half million people ”. However, the geriatricians as well as other international agencies are focusing its focus on fragile elders, those who are at risk for disabilities or which present in greater or lesser degree.

To this group ”, explains Dr. Macías, still have a chance to act and change the course of the disease, ahead of dependency and disability, that when these have been our ability to intervene are reduced ”.

However, the geriatricians are concerned that, according to denounce, our health system cannot respond to the assistance needs of this group. The current national system is designed to meet the patient that prevailed for several decades, adults with acute illnesses, so now must adapt to the characteristics and needs of the contemporary patient ”, explains the Coordinator of the thematic network of cooperative research on ageing and fragility (RETICEF), Dr. Leocadio Rodríguez Mañas. Today the greater patient is characterized by a chronic disease, in addition it usually isn’t one but several pathologies that suffers with different levels of severity. It is not uncommon to find an old man, for example, with heart failure, COPD, cognitive impairment, hypertension and diabetes. And these diseases, in addition, generate loss of functional autonomy ”.

Plan of comprehensive care

For this reason, the SEMEG calls for the establishment of a network of comprehensive care that meets to different types of patients that there are currently providing the assistance they need in every moment and aiming always avoid disability ”. And the first step in this line would be the incorporation of geriatric services to tertiary hospitals. At present, only 12 per cent of the Spanish hospitals has units Geriátricas of acute and 30% with some specialized geriatric care device. In opinion of experts, these services should be integrated by units of agudos, functional recovery and day hospitals.

There are several studies that reflect the effectiveness of such services and what makes this a reference model in countries such as Great Britain, Canada or Australia. So acute Geriatrics unit decrease in more of the 20% the risk of functional impairment and income in residence. Functional recovery units have a positive impact on the role and increase the chances to live at home, among others beneficial.

On the contrary, disability when he has already appeared increases healthcare costs, multiplying by three healthcare and up tenfold spending of social assistance. Responsible for the increase in health costs associated with population ageing are due to the dependence that once established is difficult to reverse ”, assures the President of SEMEG.

Our objective rather than disease-free aging ”, requires the doctor Rodríguez Mañas, is to achieve a free of disability aging and independent in old age. The prevention of disability, detecting and acting on the fragility as well as its review in Stadium early should become one of the main objectives of the strategies of care for the elderly in the modern health care system ”, demand.

Hence comes the saves an old campaign ‘ La Cruda Realidad ’, an initiative of complaint that has been launched by the Spanish society of geriatric medicine with which you want to make a call of attention on how they live and feel over the age of 65 and the need that the elderly are treated by doctors of the largest, the geriatricians.

Spanish society of medicine Geriatrica (SEMEG)

The Spanish society of geriatric medicine (SEMEG), is a scientific society composed of geriatricians and created 11 years ago with the aim of promoting the study and development of this specialty as well as contribute to the work of research and better health care for the elderly. This society aims to sensitize the public of the role of the Geriatrics in elder care; inform and form about the work we do; and ensure that Geriatrics is a specialty that will take its place.