A NEW report is aiming to highlight the challenges of caring for an ageing population in Staffordshire over the next couple of decades.
Authored by the county’s Director of Public Health Dr Richard Harling, the review identifies the ways in which health and care services will be impacted.
It has been released to mark International Day of Older Persons today (1st October).
The report outlines how the local demographic will change and what that will mean for society. It also notes the risk of a significant shortage of health and care workers.
Dr Harling’s paper calls for collective actions to increase healthy life expectancy, offer dignity for people towards the end of life, and consider the role of technology in health and care services.
He said:
“Poor health and wellbeing in older age does not need to be inevitable – we can act now to help people to age well and future-proof health and care services.
“By supporting better housing, strong communities, and access to vital services to prevent health problems getting worse, people can live healthier for longer.
“We must also work together to improve our offer to staff in our sector too.”
Dr Harling has also called for Staffordshire’s public sector to review support for the elderly and frail.
“We need care that is proactive and compassionate, rather than focusing on medical treatment.
“Very few of us want to end our days in a hospital or a care home. We need doctors, nurses and social workers to help us explore the options, articulate our wishes, anticipate problems, maximise our quality of life and understand when it is time to ease our passing.
“This would offer greater dignity for people in their final years.
“A range of partners in Staffordshire have already developed a Healthy Ageing Strategy, which sets out the small actions everyone can take to improve their future.
“Older adults are a valuable asset to communities through contributing to the local economy, taking community leadership roles, and donating their skills, experience and expertise in a variety of ways.
“They are also active community members through volunteering, by caring for others or making and creating, and we can all help them to have full, active lives for so much longer.”
The full report by Dr Harling is available online.
Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for health and care, Cllr Jeremy Pert, said:
“The International Day of Older Persons reminds us that we all have a part to play in making our communities and neighbourhoods better places to age by celebrating and enabling the contributions of older adults.
“We can only address the challenges that the demographic timebomb presents by working across the public sector more effectively – from building homes for life and healthier neighbourhoods, through to making health and care a positive career choice for as many as possible.
“The publication of this report is therefore very timely, and makes for very sobering reading. It sets out the challenges we and our partners face in caring for an aging population, and the need to help them live in good health for as long as possible.”
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“We can only address the challenges that the demographic timebomb presents by working across the public sector more effectively – from building homes for life and healthier neighbourhoods, through to making health and care a positive career choice for as many as possible.
Who is this amorphous “we” – without a proposal for definitive actions, Cllr Pert’s contribution is little more than political hot air
As an example, “building homes” is not even a County Council function, so why even utter such a vacuous exhortation ?
In 2016 another report was presented called Time to talk – Getting it right for later life.
In 2019 Dr Harling himself produced a report called Live long and prosper: digital technologies for health and wellbeing.
So, there is nothing new here, as I pointed out to him last week at the County’s Health Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the issue is that the challenge is for electors to support the policy decisions needed to ensure we meet that challenge. The first recommendation in the report is: “Organisations in Staffordshire should consider the impact of an ageing population in all of their strategies, policies and services.” I will be asking our new Health Scrutiny Task Group to ensure this is the first item on their agenda. After all, the report warns of the risk that health and care services either run out of money or run out of staff – or both.
The generation currently passing along life’s conveyor belt is the same generation formerly referred to as the post war baby boom. Nothing new here. Health, schooling, accommodation and much else has had to be tailored to accommodate the population demographic this caused.
Why this has come as a shock to councils (and government) reflects poor planning. In many respects it represents responsibility for the sacrifices in war by their forebears.
The commercial sector has capitalised with its care homes at extremely high rates. And councils seem only too happy to encourage this.
It reflects badly on our decision makers. While the elderly may not have an entitlement, they at least deserve respect.