Editorial

Citation

Klee, D. (2013), "Editorial", Working with Older People, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/wwop.2013.56317aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Working with Older People, Volume 17, Issue 1

As this is the first issue in a new volume of Working with Older People, the first issue of 2013, I thought it would be helpful to reflect on 2012. It is not possible to cover every news item, publication and policy statement in 2012 concerning older people, so I have selected those that interested me most. My apologies if I have missed out your highlights.

It was the European year for active ageing and solidarity between generations. It was also the tenth anniversary of the Madrid international plan of action on ageing. In the UK, Older People’s day on the 1 October invited people to participate in the Big Skills Share. There were exciting events all over the country bringing generations together in a wide range of activities.

Sadly news headlines continued to tell a story of discrimination and neglect.

“One in three people over 65 lonely some or all of the time”, www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9572214/One-in-three-elderly

“Elderly Britons are the loneliest in Europe”, www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9287667/Elderly-Britons-lonelies

“The healthcare needs of elderly people are considered a ‘secondary requirement’ in some of Britain’s care homes”, www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/care-homes-neglect-older-people-16127513.html

“A sharp rise in the number of people over 65 being treated for drinking problems in London”, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16439991

The year started with reports on the cuts in funding for older people’s social care. Age UK in a report Care in Crisis (Age UK, 2012) said it had been cut by £331 million in the past year. The Health Select Committee Report on Public Expenditure gave the figure of £200 million in cuts from government figures and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services gave a figure of £991 million in the same report (www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/health-committee/news/report–-pex-2-news-/).

The Age UK Care in Crisis petition for a reform of the social care system had more than 130,000 signatures.

In July the care and support white paper was published, “Caring for the future: reforming care and support” (Department of Health (DH), 2012, July). It reinforced the ongoing messages for service improvement:

• •

  A focus on support and well-being enabling people to remain independent as long as possible.

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  National consistency on access to care.

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  Better information.

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  More personal control over care.

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  Better support for carers.

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  Improved quality of care.

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  Integrated services.

The white paper was supported by the Draft Care and Support Bill (DH, 2012, July), which provided a legal framework to make the reform a reality. David Behan in his July Social Care Bulletin said that it was “the biggest overhaul and clarification of the law in more than 60 years replacing over a dozen pieces of legislation with one single clear framework”

(http://socialcarebulletin.dh.gov.uk/2012/07/13/david-behans-voicepiece-2/).

Progress on funding reform was disappointingly slow following the Dilnot review (Committee on Funding of Care and Support, 2011, July). A progress report on funding was also published alongside the white paper and draft bill (DH, 2012, July). It gave the government’s support for the principles outlined by the Dilnot Commission with financial protection through capping costs and an extended means test, however final decisions on funding reform are to take place at the next spending review. It is likely that this will now be in 2013 (www.express.co.uk/posts/view/311538/2013-spending-review-considered-).

The topics of dementia and loneliness seemed to dominate 2012. I have gathered together some of the news stories under these headings. Other items have been grouped under housing and health and well-being.

Dementia

On 26 March David Cameron spoke about the challenge of dementia at an Alzheimer’s event and gave it his personal commitment. There followed the Prime Ministers Dementia Challenge a programme of three workstreams:

1. 1.

   Driving improvement in healthcare.

2. 2.

   Creating dementia friendly communities.

3. 3.

   Better research.

A report on progress from the working groups and future ambitions was published in November (DH, 2012).

In July the DH commissioned skills for care to support a national programme for the development of the social care workforce working with people with dementia. A total of 2.4 million was made available to employers to support the completion of relevant accredited qualifications (http://dementia.dh.gov.uk/2-4m-funding-for-a-learning-and-development-programme-for-the-adult-social-care-workforce-supporting-people-with-dementia/).

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) (2012, October) published Creating a Dementia Friendly York after working in York to develop a community where people who are in the early stages of dementia could feel confident in using local facilities and services. The JRF (2012, October) also published A Stronger Collective Voice for People with Dementia the result of the dementia engagement and empowerment project which investigated how organisations involved people with dementia and recommended ways to do this more effectively.

In October the DH provided funding for NHS trusts and local authorities to help tailor care environments for people with dementia (www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/10/dementiaenvironments/).

The Alzheimer’s Society launched Dementia Friends in November. Dementia Friends received free training to raise their awareness and help them understand dementia better. The aim was to help people with dementia feel included within their communities (www.dementiafriends.org.uk/).

Loneliness and isolation

The Campaign to End Loneliness, a coalition of organisations and individuals working together to combat loneliness and isolation in the UK led an international research conference on loneliness in July (www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk/loneliness-conference/).

They also hosted the first major summit on loneliness with Paul Burstow who was the care services minister. A report on this summit can be found on their web site: www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/03/15.03.12-Summit-on-Tackling-Loneliness-Report.pdf

A loneliness tool kit for health and well-being boards was launched by the Campaign to End Loneliness in 2012 and for the first time a measure was introduced to help local authorities identify local areas where older people suffer most from loneliness. This new measure is part of the updated adult social care outcomes framework for 2013/2014 (www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk/toolkit/).

Housing

There has been much discussion about the need for older people to move into smaller houses, downsizing to make room for younger families. The government introduced a bedroom standard to identify houses that are under occupied. One bedroom for every couple and a room for each single adult was the requirement. Not surprisingly 57 per cent of all older adults households and 68 per cent of older homeowners houses were under occupied. The JRF (2012) in their report Older Peoples’ Housing: Choice, Quality of Life and Under Occupation challenges the need for older people to downsize, making the case that older people lack the choice of housing options and may also have psychological and social reasons for wanting to stay put.

In October the DH established a fund of £300 million to create and modernize homes for independent living for older people. The fund is run in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority (for London based schemes; www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/10/fund-homes/).

Health and well-being

A new resource pack to support the care of older people when discharged home from hospital was launched in October by the DH. The hospital to home resource pack provides information, advice, case studies and checklists to help health and social care professionals (www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/10/hospital-2-home/).

An NHS mandate to increase the number of people with long term conditions benefitting from telehealth was announced in November. The aim is for three million people to benefit from telehealth by 2017 (http://socialcarebulletin.dh.gov.uk/category/longterm-conditions/).

The successful Age UK (2012) “Fit as a fiddle programme” came to an end in 2012 after five years of funding by The Big Lottery. A total of 15.1 million was invested in projects over the nine regions of England to improve the health and well-being of people over 50 through physical activities, healthy eating and good mental health (www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/fit-as-a-fiddle/).

The other major news stories for 2012 I would like to mention are:

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  The Ageing Well Legacy – an excellent resource made available in September following the conclusion of the LGA Ageing Well programme which was funded by the DWP and ran for two years (www.local.gov.uk/ageing-well).

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  Age Action Alliance – a partnership of organisations (hosted by DWP) working together to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged older people, established in 2012 (http://ageactionalliance.org/?page_id=187).

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  Britains 50 new radicals – A NESTA and Observor award for organisations that are transforming the face of community care. I am particularly proud of two organisations for being nominated, Dementia Adventure and Frameworks for Change as both of these organisations are working to improve the life experiences of older people (www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/series/britain-s-new-radicals).

In summary it has been a challenging year with budget cuts for all organisations supporting older people and carers. Despite this, statutory organisations, community and voluntary organisations, independent providers and citizens are working hard together to improve the quality of care experienced by older people. There have been many inspiring and innovative projects across the UK and Europe, many of them featured in this journal. We will continue to report on these stories throughout 2013.

As it is the first journal of the year may I wish you a happy and fulfilling 2013.

Deborah Klee