Professor Chris Whitty’s new annual report says adapting for an ageing population should be a major aim of policy and medical practice.
The UK’s ageing population is ever-increasing due to triumphs in medicine and public health. However, this means an expansion in the period of ill-health is not inevitable.
In his annual report published today, the CMO says we need to focus on how to maximise independence and minimise the time in ill health between reaching older age and the end of their life.
Quality, enjoyment and independence should be the principal aims.
Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, explained: “Maximising the quality of health in older adults should be seen as a major national priority.
“We can make very significant progress with relatively straightforward interventions. Older people can and should be better served.”
The ageing population is currently underserved in healthcare
The geography of the ageing population in England is already skewed away from large urban areas towards more rural, coastal, and other peripheral areas and will become more so.
Efforts to achieve shorter periods of ill health and an easier environment for those with disabilities should concentrate on areas of the country where the need is going to be greatest.
The report makes the case that older people are currently underserved in healthcare, with less accessible transport links and insufficient infrastructure designed for an ageing population, including housing.
Providing services and environments suitable for older adults in these areas is an absolute priority if we wish to maximise the period all older citizens have in independence.
The report calls for research into multimorbidity, frailty, and social care to be accelerated and states that the medical profession needs to focus on maintaining generalist skills as doctors specialise.
Medical specialisation, specialised NHS provision, NICE guidelines, and medical research are all optimised for single diseases. However, that is not the lived reality for the great majority of older adults, who often transfer very rapidly from having no significant disease states to several simultaneously.
The increasing specialisation of the medical profession runs counter to optimising treatment for this group of largely older citizens and patients.
The call for action has been welcomed across the country
“We welcome the Chief Medical Officer’s new report and its focus on the diversity of experiences of the ageing population,” stated Professor Dame Carol Black, Chair of the Centre for Ageing Better.
“Older generations are repeatedly grouped together as a homogenous group, when in fact many people are facing enormous challenges and hardship in their later years, as this report clarifies.”
Professor Adam Gordon, President of the British Geriatrics Society, added: “Population ageing is one of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing us globally.
“With this in mind, we welcome that this year the Chief Medical Officer has chosen to focus his annual report on the ageing population.”
He concluded: “The Chief Medical Officer’s call to recognise this as a major national priority is very timely. We are all ageing, and we must act now to grasp this opportunity, ensuring that older people now and in the future are enabled to live healthy, independent lives for as long as possible.”
