Abstract
The benefits of specialist geriatric assessment in acute medical units are debated and it is unclear if there is a reduction in readmission rates for older patients with specialist geriatric care compared to general acute medical care. We examined readmission rates for 2414 older patients who had been discharged from the acute medical unit at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, either by acute medicine or older people's medicine (OPM), both of which teams were consultant-led. We found no significant difference in readmission rates between patients discharged by the acute medical team as compared to the OPM team. This finding was robust to a variety of sensitivity analyses, including different lengths of stay, or readmissions at different time intervals. Hence, acute medical teams may be able to achieve similar levels of quality care for older patients to specialist geriatric teams.