Caroline Abrahams – Charity Director at Age UK (Image: Age UK)
It won’t come as a surprise that Age UK’s new report about Older People’s Health and Care is mostly a pretty depressing read.
Based on the latest available NHS and Government information, it describes a system that is struggling to meet many older people’s needs.
A big part of the problem is that we have an ageing population but neither the NHS nor social care have adapted fully or quickly enough in response, leaving millions of over-65s without the timely diagnostics, clinical treatment or social care support they require to live decently and well.
Even getting a GP appointment can be challenging, as everyone knows.
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The headline figure in the report is that fully 2 million older people are now living with some unmet need for social care – that is, help with essential activities like getting in and out of bed, dressing, bathing and preparing a meal.
The statistic means that this huge number of people are receiving insufficient or no formal care services, and aren’t getting enough or any help from family, friends or neighbours either.
Some will be just about managing, if their care needs are only just emerging, but we are very worried about those whose care needs are much more pronounced.
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How are they coping? We simply don’t know, but we fear that many will be in and out of hospital because without the social care they need, their health will be declining, and they will be more at risk of problems like malnutrition and falls.
Our new Government has suggested that large scale social care reform will have to wait for at least five years, but the figures in our report show this really isn’t sustainable.
Ministers need to get on with it much more quickly, for the sake of older people and also to support the NHS.