Age UK’s The health and care of older people in England 2015 report is the latest authoritative data on older people’s health and care needs and the provision of health and care services in England. They analyse the degree to which these needs are being met by health and care services.
The population in England is ageing and with this comes a rising prevalence of people with multiple health conditions. Many of these are preventable or manageable, but there are concerns that funding for health and care services is not keeping pace with the changes and the system is not providing the right care at the right time in the right place for many older people. This report examines trends in funding, provision and the use of health and care services to investigate whether the health and care system is meeting the needs of older people in England.
Key findings:
- Almost £2 billion has been cut from older people’s social care in the last 10 years.
- The number of people with unmet care needs has increased from 800,000 in 2010 to over a million in 2015.
- NHS funding has been mostly protected, but has not kept pace with demographic change and growing needs. A £20 billion shortfall by 2020 is expected.
- The number of emergency admissions and readmissions in hospitals is increasing, many of which could be avoidable with more community health and social care services . The pattern of demand on primary services has intensified: the number of times an older person visits a GP practice has increased from seven to 13 on average in just 13 years.
- Rates of admission for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions such as pneumonia, UTIs and congestive heart failure are rising dramatically.
To find out more and to download a copy of the report, please visit the Age UK website.
