ABSTRACT
Commonly these days a geriatric department consists of about 400 beds together with hospital, day and other clinics. Whilst the whole department is the responsibility of the hospital management committee and its various sub-committees the clinical responsibility is usually placed on the consultant physicians whose duty it is to concern themselves with everything that touches on the care of patients. In practice this means the consultant is concerned with junior doctors, nurses, auxiliary nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and medical social workers in addition to his direct responsibility for the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
