The Centre for Ageing Better, a charity funded by an £50m endowment from The National Lottery Community Fund, has taken the lead in a new initiative designed to “make England the best country in the world to grow old” in.
It has teamed up with Public Health England (PHE), an executive agency supported by the Department of Health and Social Care, to draw up a “consensus statement.”
Signatories to the statement agree to five principles, which are:
- Prioritising prevention and public health.
- Creating opportunities for people to contribute to society as they age.
- Fostering accessible and inclusive homes and neighbourhoods so everyone can live where they want.
- Narrowing inequalities in healthy ageing; and challenging ageist language, culture and practices.
A number of other charities are amongst the over 60 organisations that are signatories to the statement and principles. These include Age UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Canal and River Trust, Independent Age, Living Streets, Mind, St John Ambulance and Versus Arthritis. The organisers hope the number of signatories will grow.
Dr Anna Dixon, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “Many of us are living longer, in part due to advances in medicine and public health. While many people can look forward to being healthy when they reach later life, most of us will find ourselves managing long-term health conditions or disabilities at some point, in a society that too often treats us as past our sell by date.”
She added that “our health should not dictate how we live our lives or prevent us from doing the things we want to do,” saying that is why it is important “to help people to stay healthy for as long as possible, build homes and communities that enable us to stay active and connected, and stamp out the ageist attitudes that have an impact on our health.”
The second phase of the initiative will be PHE engaging with national public health teams and partners in devolved administrations so that the “best of these actions can be shared and promoted.”
Survey
At the same time as launching the initiative, results of a new online YouGov survey commissioned by the Centre for Ageing Better and Independent Age, were released.
Many of those surveyed worry their physical health will affect their ability to do things like be as financially secure as they’d like (62 per cent), be as physically active as they want (55 per cent), or live in the kind of home they want (43 per cent) at 65 or older. Two in three (67 per cent) think ageism or being treated differently based on age negatively affects the physical health of over-65s.
When asked what will be most important to them when they are over 65, 81 per cent rated having good mental health as “very important”. Being financially secure was rated by 74 per cent as very important, having good physical health by 72 per cent and being able to see family and friends face to face by 60 per cent.
Improving homes and neighbourhoods to meet the needs of older people were cited by 69 per cent and 68 per cent respectively as a priority for the UK. Other priorities include preventing people from being treated differently due to their age (63 per cent) and supporting people to stay in work for as long as they want (58 per cent).
The survey was completed by 6,362 adults, of which 2153 are aged 40-60.
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