An older person has several chronic conditions: which doctor should coordinate their care?
Family Medicine provides comprehensive and continuing primary care for patients and their families, and coordinates patients' referrals to and follow-up by other specialists and allied health services; Geriatric Medicine is a specialty of internal medicine that deals with acute and chronic diseases in older people and attends to their social, therapeutic and rehabilitation needs (Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Specialty Descriptions, April 2025). Who follows up a patient is decided by the treating doctor.
An older person has several chronic conditions: which doctor coordinates?
Family Medicine is a medical specialty that provides comprehensive and continuing primary healthcare for patients and their families, and coordinates patients' referrals to and follow-up by other specialists and allied health services; Geriatric Medicine is a specialty of internal medicine that prevents, investigates and diagnoses acute and chronic diseases in older people, and attends to their social, therapeutic and rehabilitation needs (Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Specialty Descriptions, April 2025).
| Specialty (Medical Council specialty code) | College | Scope (per the Specialty Descriptions) |
|---|---|---|
| Family Medicine (S05) | The Hong Kong College of Family Physicians | Comprehensive, continuing primary healthcare; coordinates patients' referrals to and follow-up by other specialists and allied health services |
| Geriatric Medicine (S18) | Hong Kong College of Physicians | Acute and chronic medical diseases in older people, and care for their social, therapeutic and rehabilitation needs |
How do Government documents describe the family doctor's role?
Family doctors are the first point of contact for individuals and families in the healthcare process and the main providers of primary healthcare, providing comprehensive, continuing, whole-person, coordinated and preventive care; for older people, family doctors provide continuing care and anticipate their changing needs at different stages of life (Health Bureau, Primary Healthcare Blueprint supplementary document, December 2022).
Whether an individual older person is followed up by a family doctor, Geriatric Medicine or another specialty is decided by the treating doctor according to the condition.
How do you find a family doctor or geriatrician? What should you prepare before seeing the doctor?
On choosing a family doctor, see How to choose a family doctor, and for Geriatric Medicine, see How to choose a geriatrician; for how to use Elderly Health Care Vouchers, see Elderly Health Care Vouchers. To find a doctor by district, Book a Doctor's Family Medicine list shows 39 and its Geriatric Medicine list shows 30 doctors (as of 25 October 2026) on the Medical Council's Specialist Register, in order of English name, not of preference (this page is compiled by this site).
Our analysis: when an older person sees several doctors, they can bring the follow-up appointment slips from each specialty, a list of the medicines they are taking and previous test reports, so that each doctor has the full picture of their conditions; for what a companion should prepare, see What to prepare for your first doctor's visit.
Frequently asked questions
An older person has heart disease and several other chronic conditions: which doctor should coordinate their care?
Family Medicine coordinates patients' referrals to and follow-up by other specialists and allied health services; Geriatric Medicine deals with acute and chronic diseases in older people and attends to their social, therapeutic and rehabilitation needs (Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Specialty Descriptions, April 2025). Who coordinates an individual older person's care is decided by the treating doctor according to the condition.
How should follow-up be arranged when an older person has several illnesses?
Family doctors are the first point of contact and provide comprehensive, continuing and coordinated care, including continuing care for older people (Health Bureau, Primary Healthcare Blueprint supplementary document, December 2022); when seeing several doctors, the older person can bring the follow-up appointment slips, a list of medicines and reports.
Which specialty should an older person with several illnesses see?
Geriatric Medicine (S18) deals with acute and chronic medical diseases and rehabilitation in older people; Family Medicine (S05) provides comprehensive, continuing primary care and coordinates referrals (Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Specialty Descriptions, April 2025). Which specialty follows up is decided by the treating doctor.