Integration of geriatric with general medical services in Newcastle.

In west Newcastle upon Tyne hospital geriatric and other acute medical specialty beds are managed as a functionally integrated service. This practice improves the efficiency of use of scarce district general hospital beds and carries other benefits in quality of patient care, experience of junior medical and nursing staff, and in working relationships. In an appropriate setting the integrated model offers an alternative to the more traditional separate development of geriatric services.