Agenda item

Terri Roche to present

Terri Roche, Director of Public Health, introduced the 2015/16 independent report which highlighted some of the successes in Rotherham as well as a frank assessment of some of the challenges faced as a community.  A powerpoint presentation was given on healthy ageing living well and living longer as follows:-

 

Why focus on healthy ageing?

“Provides the opportunity to shine the light on the rich asset that older people are within our society and also to consider the changes that are developing within our older population”

Considerations include:-

-          Ageing population

-          Changing communities

-          Older people as local asset

-          Value of focussing on prevention

-          Improving quality of later life

 

Local data highlights

-          Rotherham’s over 65s population is growing the fastest.  By 2025:-

21.7% of population will be over 65

Over 85s population will rise by over 40%

-          Rotherham has lower life expectancy than England (men and women)

-          Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy gap is greater than England average (men and women)

-          Poor perception of “their own health” reported in Census surveys by older people in Rotherham

 

Healthy Ageing Framework Structure

Four sections

-          Healthy behaviours and lifestyles

-          Age friendly environment and community support health

-          Encouraging social inclusion

-          Quality integrated services and prevention interventions

 

Healthy behaviours and lifestyles – adding life to years and years to life

Includes

-          Obesity

-          Fruit and veg

-          Inactivity

-          Alcohol

-          Tobacco

-          Sexual health

-          Living with long term conditions (LTCs)

-          Making Every Contact Count (MECC)

 

Key messages

-          To promote the 5 a day and balanced diet messages and their importance in later life including hydration

-          Older adults to be more active and meet CMO guidelines of 150 minutes per week including strength and balance activities

-          It is never too late to stop smoking

-          Alcohol misuse in later life leads to increased hospital admissions

-          Older people are made aware of the health risks of regular and excessive alcohol use

 

Recommendation 1

-          All services should encourage lifestyle behaviour change in older people where appropriate particularly in the most disadvantaged communities.  This could be achieved through taking a systematic approach to MECC

 

Age friendly environment and community supporting health

The impact of where we live on our health in later life and includes

-          Role older people play in their communities (e.g. volunteering)

-          WHO Age friendly cities and communities

-          Excess winter deaths

-          Poor quality housing impact

-          Cold homes and fuel poverty

-          Falls prevention and support

 

Key messages are to:

-          Plan together

Use a Framework or plan to join activity and work towards a common goal for Healthy Ageing

Housing need to plan adequately for the ageing population, considering account of tenure changes and promoting independence

Preventing falls and providing early intervention for those who have fell is an important factor in maintaining independence

-          Work together

A wide range of people can identify vulnerable people who may be at increased risk (e.g. cold weather, falls)

 

Recommendation 2

-          Rotherham’s Health and Wellbeing Board considers implementing the WHO ‘Age Friendly Cities and Communities’ and become the first area in South Yorkshire to achieve this accreditation, learning from other UK cities that have already begun this work.  This would be complimentary to the Borough’s aspiration to be young people and dementia friendly

 

Encouraging social inclusion

Challenges and opportunities that have an impact in later life includes:-

-          Maintaining independence

-          Carer responsibilities – for partners, friends, grandchildren

-          Income, work, benefits and volunteering (giving back)

-          Education and literacy

-          Discrimination

-          Mental health

-          Dementia

-          Loneliness and social isolation

 

Key messages

-          Maintaining independence requires all stakeholders to work together and with individuals

-          Older people play a significant role as car givers

-          Opportunities for over 65s to remain in work are greater

-          Volunteering is important as a social activity to combat social isolation and loneliness

-          Health literacy is an important factor to support self-management

-          Age discrimination needs to continue to be in policy developments

-          Dementia prevention and support agenda needs to continue to be considered

-          Mental health within later life needs to be responsibility of all organisations across the system

 

Recommendation 3

-          The social inclusion of older people in Rotherham needs to be at the heart of policy and delivery across the Rotherham Partnership, addressing issues such as maintaining independence, income and participation, mental health, loneliness and isolation.  To achieve this goal, older people must experience proactive involvement and participation in life and society as a whole

 

Quality integrated services and preventative interventions

Working together to commission and deliver the best services for older people in Rotherham.  Includes:-

-          Health and social care integration

-          Asset based approaches

-          Screening and immunisations

-          NHS Healthchecks

-          Personalised End of Life Care planning

-          Integrated Wellness Services

 

Key Messages

-          Health and social care integration is underway

-          Screening programmes identify and treat individuals early

-          People 65+ have higher health risks from flu, pneumococcal and shingles

-          NHS Health checks detect early signs of illness and disease

-          Personalised end of life care planning will increase in importance as our population ages

-          Integrated wellness service will target communities and individuals of the greatest need providing a comprehensive behaviour change pathway

 

Recommendation 4

-          All partners to deliver against the aspirations and commitments within the Rotherham Integrated Health and Social Care Place Plan and to continue to strive for the highest quality services for older people.  This is to include an increased focus on prevention, early identification and self-management, with clear pathways for lifestyle behaviour change for older people that support individuals to make changes when the time is right for them

 

Next Steps

-          Sharing the report with key stakeholders

-          Facilitating the development of key actions

-          Developing an action plan

-          Monitoring and reporting on progress

 

Discussion ensued on the report and presentation with the following issues raised/clarified:-

 

·           Were those less digitally competent being missed as self-care models increasingly moved to online access?  Need to ensure there was always a backup system available and to publicise such facility

·           Intergenerational and intercommunity work must not be forgotten

·           The Council was in the process of developing a Digital Strategy

·           Acknowledgement that in Rotherham, particularly for carers, there was low usage of the digital system

·           There was a different perception of using digital on-line services to pay bills opposed to seeking assistance

·           Some feared the loss of face-to-face contact

·           Need for a future discussion on Rotherham being “age friendly” or “people friendly”

 

Resolved:-  That the report be noted.