Needs of elderly people in residential homes: comparison of records held by carers and general practitioners.

Fifty patients from one practice who were resident in private nursing homes or residential local authority homes for the elderly (part 3) have been studied. The main carers in the residential homes completed a questionnaire on the care requirements, medical problems and unmet needs of each patient. This information was compared with that available to the general practitioners from the patients' medical notes so that areas of poor communication between the doctor and the main career could be identified. The 11 male patients had a mean age of 82 years and the 39 female patients a mean age of 83 years. Many of the patients had complicated medical problems and were highly dependent on nursing care. Carers were unaware of 34 medical problems among the patients and general practitioners were unaware of care needs in eight patients. Improved communication between general practitioners and the carers in residential homes may benefit patients but proper regard must be given to the privacy and confidentiality of medical information in this setting.