Understanding Local Demands On The Inpatient Geriatric Medicine Consultation Service

Abstract Background Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) improves outcomes in hospitalised older patients1. Geriatric medicine consultation service is a means of providing CGA. Our aim was to understand local patterns for geriatric medicine consultation requests. Methods Data collected via electronic patient record on all geriatric medicine consults received over a 4-month period January to April 2025. Statistical analysis via Excel. Results There were 252 consultation requests, 21.5% of patients had multiple consultations. Average of 3.7 consults per day. 129 (51.2%) were female. Mean age 81 (standard deviation 8.3). More consults were from medical specialties (N=186, 73.8%) compared to surgical (N=65, 25.8%). Main indications for consultation were long term care (LTC) (N=70, 27.8%), cognition (N=42, 16.7%), general review (N=29, 11.5%), delirium (N=29, 11.5%), capacity (N=18, 7.1%) and discharge planning (N=17, 6.7%). There was a strong correlation between department and consultation reason p-value <0.001. Most frequent medical consultation requests were LTC (31.7%), cognition (16.6%) and capacity assessment (9.1%). Surgical consultation requests were most frequently general review (26.2%) and delirium (24.6%). Mean length of stay was 33.5 days. Mean number of days to consult was 18.4. Mean number of days between consult and discharge was 15.5. Discharge destinations were LTC (N=105, 41.7%), direct home (N=60, 23.8%), respite (N=24, 9.5%) and rehab (N=18, 6.3%). A number of patients were still admitted (N=14, 5.6%) or died (N=19, 7.5%). 91 (36.1%) patients had attended geriatric medicine outpatients within the last year and 33 (13.1%) were newly referred on discharge. Conclusion The geriatric medicine consultation service plays a key role in supporting hospitalised older patients. Further studies are needed to understand the optimal configuration of local geriatric medicine services to better case-find and support our aging population. Reference 1. Ellis, G. et al. Comprehensive geriatric assessment for older adults admitted to hospital: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ 2011;343.