A recent study, published in the Lancet Public Health journal, has analysed the speculated health needs of the elderly between 2015 and 2035. The headline figure predicts that those aged 85 plus, requiring 24-hour care, will double by 2035.
Furthermore, it predicts that a million people aged over 65 will also need similar 24-hour care by 2035, putting a complete strain on an already struggling system.
The study highlighted the fact that the fastest growing demographic in the UK is elderly people aged over 85. This trend is unlikely to change with estimations that current numbers of 1.6 million people will increase to over 3 million people by 2035.
When the health authorities are currently struggling to provide care for the 2.4% of the UK’s entire population that is already over 85, anxieties will intensify as to how we can help this section of society if these expected numbers materialise.
Figures will double to 446,000 people aged over 85 needing help with menial tasks like dressing, bathing and going to the toilet, by 2035.
As well as this, age related conditions like dementia, diabetes and other complex illnesses are set to increase. The population ageing faster than the care sector is growing will also create additional difficulties and complexities.
Professor Carol Jagger, from the Newcastle University Institute for Ageing and senior author of the study, said: “The challenge is considerable.
“Our study suggests that older spouse carers are increasingly likely to be living with disabilities themselves.
“On top of that, extending the retirement age of the UK population is likely to further reduce the informal carer pool, who have traditionally provided for older family members.”
“The rise in obesity is hitting women harder than men, and men have probably benefited more from the reductions in cardiovascular disease.
“Women also suffer from a decline in muscle mass, and so I am stressing the importance of physical activity and maintaining strength and balance.”
“This expanding group will have more complex care needs that are unlikely to be met adequately without improved co-ordination between different specialities.”
Nick Forbes, senior vice-chair of the Local Government Association, said: “Adult social care services face a £3.5bn funding gap by 2025, just to maintain existing standards of care.”
“The system is at breaking point, ramping up pressures on unpaid carers.
“There is an urgent need to plug the immediate funding gap and find a long-term solution to how we pay for adult social care.”
The Department of Health have indicated that a report into adult social care will be published in the autumn with ideas to help tackle the increasing needs of the ageing population.
However, according to Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, more should be done to help collaboration within the NHS. She said: “The problem is that today there are far too few really effective joined-up services, and social care is in sharp decline.
“The government’s top priority must be to steady the ship and then produce a great set of proposals later this year to give our older population confidence they can get the help they need.”
In a time when we live in an ageing population that brings a myriad of additional health related problems, the Government needs to be prepared for services to be stretched. Hopefully, the speculated numbers can be taken into consideration by the relevant health and governmental bodies so that the health needs of our elderly can be met successfully.
Will this place additional pressure on LPAs to carry out the wishes of their loved ones? Should more be done to tackle the increasing carer gap?
