The vice chancellor of the University of Bolton has brought his expertise on the safety of older people to the international stage.
Professor George E Holmes did so by addressing a conference of more than 150 delegates from the Centre of Excellence for the Safety of Older People and the Centre of Remediation, Support and Training.
He told the delegates, gathered at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel in Blackburn, about the work the university has been doing on improving healthcare provision.
Prof Holmes said: “We have grown for the past 12-13 years, from nothing in healthcare, to over 3,500 students in this area.
“We know that health equality is critical to improve the life chances of our communities. We are working closely nationally through the centres and with the Caribbean and African Health Network to look at the tremendous disparities in health outcomes.
“We want to work with them to help to address health inequality.”
Along with Prof Holmes, the conference also heard from the University of Bolton’s Pro Vice Chancellor and Institute of Medicine's Chair, Professor Iqbal Singh CBE, who led a range of by experts in their respective healthcare and education fields.
Guests included Charlie Massey, chief executive of the General Medical Council, Dame Clare Gerada, president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Baroness Dido Harding , past chair of the NHS, and Prof Leo Manas from Madrid.
Prof Singh said: “A 65-year-old in the UK today has 20 years’ further life expectancy.
“The challenge is to reduce morbidity and disability for older people so they live healthier lives.
“We need to develop a culture where we can reduce avoidable harm and ensure that older people are treated with dignity and compassion.”
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The conference also discussed how to better help medical professionals provide care.
Mr Massey said: “Two thirds of doctors say workload burnout is a barrier to patient care.
"It also has severe consequences when it comes to staff retention."
Dame Clare said there had been a huge increase in the number of GPs seeking support because of “burnout.”
She said: “We recently saw our 25,000th GP.
“Between March 2020-21 we saw as many patients in that year as we did in our first 10 years.”
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