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The State of Health & Care of Older People

Published on 13 July 2023 01:29 PM

Our CEO, Dan Skipper joined other Age UK Partners from across the country to launch a report on the stark reality of health and social care today. The event at the House of Commons included first hand accounts from patients, carers, and leaders in social care, calling for significant change to improve outcomes for people and society.

From the evidence and data presented, the following recommendations were made:

  • Reverse the decline of primary and community health services and social care so more older people get more help, earlier, enabling them to stay well for longer at home and reducing their reliance on crisis care and hospitals
  • Join these community-based services up so they are genuinely multi-disciplinary, including the voluntary sector, and work closely with  GP’s and their staff.
  • Establish a fundamental principle of “home first” to our approach to care. Rather than older people always having to go to hospital it will often make more sense fort the hospital to come to them… We need more preventative services too, such as those which tackle the risks of falls.

These and other approaches are already becoming part of the mix in some communities, but we simply need many more, and everywhere.

Age UK Norwich is locally providing a range of services linked to community health and support, including:

  • Social prescribing, within GP surgeries. This includes accredited advice and financial support.
  • Health Coaching, for patients referred by GP’s, acute and community hospitals.
  • Community Support, for residents waiting for a social care assessment.
  • Specialist housing support as part of a multi-disciplinary team (INTERACT) with Norwich City Council and health practitioners.

These all have a strong evidence base for their impact to people’s lives and cost effectiveness for prevention. More local investment to scale these services within Norwich would enable the shift being called for by Age UK and other partners.

Visit www.ageuk.org.uk/state to read the full report.