By 2050, a quarter of the UK population will be 65 years or over. Yet, a 65-year-old today will live less than half their remaining years in good health.
Many places across the UK are feeling this pressure more acutely, yet they aren’t always taking full advantage of the opportunities that promoting a healthier older population offers.
Investment in healthy ageing has wide-ranging benefits, from helping older people stay in purposeful work for longer through to savings in the health and social care system.
UK Research and Innovation’s Healthy Ageing Challenge helps to increase the number of years we live in good health.
It does this by supporting businesses through research and funding for innovative projects with potential for impact at scale.
The Challenge has invested £98 million, supporting more than 240 projects across the UK, over the past four years.
Many of these projects are already working with local authorities to address key needs in care, housing, population health, leisure and employment. They include:
- Active Families Northeast – providing physical activity interventions to improve the health and lives of vulnerable older people, targeting neighbourhoods where it is most needed.
- Good Boost – present in more than 100 gyms across the country, using technology to enable gym staff to deliver high-quality musculoskeletal rehabilitation in leisure venues.
- Transitions – an app-based service developed by East Sussex County Council to help people prepare for, and better navigate, significant transitions in later life.
- Connected Health – developing a non-invasive monitor for care homes that remotely detects incontinence events and prompts a timely care response.
- Disabled Living in Greater Manchester – developing a real-time virtual assessment tool for assistive technology to reduce delays to hospital discharges for people living with disabilities.
- Appt Health, in London – providing preventative healthcare for hard-to-reach patients, such as minority ethnic groups.
Another excellent example is the work of the Tribe Project, based in the West Midlands (see left).
These collaborations are helping to address health inequalities, supporting existing council services, and helping them access hard-to-reach communities.
Creating community capacity
Councillor John Spence CBE (Con) is Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and ICS Integration at Essex County Council
In common with other authorities, Essex County Council faces challenges in meeting growing demand for care and support.
This isn’t just a question of the amount of care and support available, but equally whether what is available meets the diverse needs and aspirations of people living in our communities.
Essex is rising to this challenge through our investment in ‘micro-providers’ – growing the number of community businesses offering support to help people live safe and well in their homes.
We are finding that such providers are well placed to ‘reach the parts’ we otherwise struggle to.
To help people set up as micro-providers, to run their businesses and find customers, Essex works with Tribe, a not-for-profit initiative and UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge Trailblazer project, which has built digital tools to support the growth of this new market.
Essex has found that micro-providers increase and diversify social care capacity, expanding choice and control for people who draw on care or support to live their lives.
Tribe’s mission is to create social care equality in the UK. It is a consortium that includes Skills for Care, Carers UK, Shared Lives Plus, Bronze Software Labs, and TSA, the industry and advisory body for technology-enabled care.
- To find out more, please visit iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/healthy-ageing-community. Our annual conference, #HealthyAgeing2023, showcasing our projects, takes place from 13-14 November – register free at www.healthyageinguk.org/2023