Vitamin D needs to be thought of as a food rather than a medicine if we are going to come close to ensuring all elderly patients are receiving care in keeping with best practice guidelines.

A small qualitative study, published in one of the BMJ journals, Nutrition, Prevention and Health (1)serves to highlight the barriers that exist for elderly people in aged care facilities to universally be given vitamin D supplements, a practice that has been recommended by evidence-based guidelines in most developed nations including the UK and Australia.