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28
Nov 2024
North Yorkshire urged to prepare for looming challenges of ageing population
Organisations across North Yorkshire have been urged to prepare for the challenges of the county’s rapidly ageing population.
The fourth annual report from North Yorkshire director of public health, Louise Wallace, reveals that almost one in four (24 per cent) of people in the county are now aged 65 or over, compared to 18 per cent elsewhere in England.
The document, presented this week to North Yorkshire Council’s health and wellbeing board, warns of a 31 per cent rise in 65+ residents by 2043.
This increase of more than 51,000 elderly people would mean the county had one in three residents aged over 65.
A 76 per cent increase in those aged 85 and over within two decades is also forecast.
At the same time, the latest figures show that the county’s working age population has been declining since 2008.
Currently, there are 16 working aged adults (18-64) for every elderly adult (85+) with this expected to fall to just nine working aged adults for every elderly adult over the next two decades.
Ms Wallace said in the report that as the number and proportion of older people in North Yorkshire increased, so would the demand for services and infrastructure to support the older population.
She added:
This includes suitable housing, transport, and health and social care services. People are also predicted to live longer, and so the number of people living with multiple long-term conditions and diseases that are associated with ageing such as dementia is likely to increase.
However, despite this predicted increase, she said it was important that an ageing population was now viewed as a “demographic time bomb”.
She added:
Most people do not have dementia, most people are not living in care homes and not everyone who is old will need help.
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As well as listing the challenges caused by an ageing population, the report makes recommendations for how the county can prepare for the rise.
The study called on all agencies and services to consider the projected increase in older people and what this meant for their services and what infrastructure they needed in place in readiness.
Ms Wallace called for a “multi-agency approaches to healthy ageing”.
A co-ordinated response should make sure that planning takes place to respond to the current and future needs of older people and, in particular, in areas where numbers will be highest.
Specific recommendations include making new housing development suitable for young and old to live together, encouraging employers to adopt age-friendly workplace practices and improving dementia diagnosis rates.
Ms Wallace added:
There needs to be a co-ordinated approach to promoting and celebrating the contribution that older people make to the North Yorkshire community. This includes work to challenge stigma and ageism and an ongoing communications campaign that is co-produced with older people.
Examples of ageism faced by North Yorkshire residents were revealed in the report.
Ms Wallace said: “One lady reported that on two occasions she had been told by the surgeon that she needed an operation but due to her age ‘she was not worth bothering with’ — at 70 and again at 80.
Others fed back that they were discriminated against in the workplace or in their community. A large number of comments in the engagement related to not being valued by their community or feeling excluded due to their age.
As part of the study, a photography competition was launched to develop a library of North Yorkshire photographs showing positive and realistic images of over 50s in a bid to challenge negative and stereotypical views of older age.
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