3: GP+ Frailty with Dr Alistair Robertson

The GP+ Careers Podcast

In this episode we hear from Dr Alistair Robertson, a GP with a special interest in frailty speak to Dr Sophie Lumley about his experience of getting into this area of work, how to seek out opportunities in frailty if you want to get involved and his downsides and highlights of the role.
Top tips:

• Make the most out of your networks - Seek out any hospital frailty teams or your GP practice the frailty lead. Don’t be afraid to speak to them to find out how to get involved, do some home visits or basic frailty or comprehensive geriatric assessments to familiarise yourself with the work
• Upskill yourself – It's always helpful to increase your knowledge base on frailty by completing a diploma in geriatric medicine for example, but it’s not essential when starting out
• Determine what sort of doctor do you want to be - find an area where you can be that doctor that you want to be. It's within every GP to go off and do these things as it's all the things you've learned coming into play that you excel at with our communication, working with other teams and being the hub for the care of the patient
• Apply yourself – with frailty you don’t need to carry any separate medical skills that other doctors don’t have; it's just you maybe have a little bit more opportunity to apply what you do know
• Endless learning opportunities – frailty is an area of work that is growing exponentially year on year due to an ageing population. You have a chance to learn from your team and your patients which is an exciting addition to the ‘day to day’ GP role.

Dr Alistair Robertson is a former EDM Record Producer who retrained as a doctor and went on to specialise as a frailty doctor, with a particular special interest in headaches on the side.
Further reading
RCGP GPwER in Frailty Framework
https://www.rcgp.org.uk/your-career/gp-extended-roles/purpose-of-frailty
Joining the dots: A blueprint for preventing and managing frailty in older people
https://www.bgs.org.uk/Blueprint
Podcast with learning resources on frailty and elderly care: https://thehearingaidpodcasts.org.uk/
Understanding how integrated care systems are supporting older people; case studies on integrated care
https://www.england.nhs.uk/integratedcare/resources/case-studies/integrated-care-in-action-older-peoples-care/
Diploma in geriatric medicine
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/diploma-geriatric-medicine