Learning Resources
Live Longer Better – Sir Muir Gray
The number of people over 80 is going to increase significantly in the next ten years with little increase in healthy life expectancy in prospect. This has huge implications for health and social care services. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Strong Evidence
The evidence is strong that we can reduce the risk of falls, prevent and delay dementia, disability and frailty. In turn, this will reduce the need for long term health and social care by approximately £45m per million of population for every year of healthy life expectancy. More of the same won’t achieve this and nor will yet another reorganisation of health and social care services. A revolution is underway, enabled by an integrated system for living longer better.
Knowledge is the Elixir of Life – the way we think about ageing is wrong; the new evidence from research lets us re-imagine ageing and then realise the new paradigm .
Sir Muir Gray, A revolution is underway, enabled by an integrated system for living longer better, with the following objectives:
These objectives are being delivered by local networks.
Already about 30 million of the population are supported by networks of AgeUK, the Active Partnerships, the NHS, Local Authorities and sites like A Future at Home. These networks are also leading a cultural revolution to create a positive environment which recognises the talents and potential of older people and appreciates what is needed to reduce the obstacles that too often prevent people realising their potential to contribute to society.
Living Longer Better complements and supplements the Aging well Programme of NHS England. The Ageing Well programme takes a systematic approach to identifying all the people with frailty, or at high risk of developing frailty, and ensuring the NHS clinical teams, particularly in primary care, take effective, evidence-based action to prevent deterioration and unnecessary hospital admission, because of the adverse effect that has on people with frailty no matter how high the quality of care in the hospital.
