Age Concern and Help the Aged: Care of the elderly must evolve

Care of the elderly in the UK must adapt if the country is to cope with people living longer in the future, according to charities Age Concern and Help the Aged.

A spokesperson for the organisations, which merged earlier this year, pointed out that the NHS will not be able to cope with the added pressure that an ageing population will put it under.

He pointed out that medical research must be altered to allow the UK’s institutions and the structure of the care system to be able to look after the elderly.

The spokesperson emphasised that it need not be a negative change to have more people living into their old age.

“Unless we actually get the research and the medical care and the social care right, there is a risk that at the end of life there will also be long periods of dependency,” he added.

These comments were made following the release of research by the Academy of Medical Sciences, which indicated that rising life expectancy and low birth rates means that the population of the world is ageing.