Old woman with carer

6 Most Common Health Concerns for Older People

As we head towards the new year and we make New Year resolutions to take steps towards a healthier lifestyle it’s worth remembering some of the common health concerns that affect older people. Pharmacist, Krishma Patel provides details of the top ailments. In the UK, around 26 million individuals are living with a long-term medical condition. This is almost half of those aged 65-74 and two-thirds of those over 85. With the aging population, these numbers are set to rise over the years – experts anticipate that 7 million people aged 65 and above will have a long-term health issue […]

Tape over the entrance of the Newington Green public toilets

A cycle trip showed me that toilet provision in Islington is out of order

My name is Cornelius McAfee, I’m 69, I have lived in north Islington for 45 years. I worked as a teacher for most of that time in schools, adult education and even taught in Pentonville Prison. History was my main subject and it’s always been a major interest. In what seems like a previous life I was a road sweeper in North London and of course one had to get to know the local lavatory facilities. Those were the days of maintained lavatories, with several stalls, polished brasses, mops swishing dettol about and the famous Izal ‘medicated toilet paper’. When […]

Picture of Caroline Russell Green Assembly Member in front of screen saying Lets Talk About Toilets at event of same name

Let’s Talk About Toilets

Event hosted at the London Assembly by Caroline Russell and Age UK London on 25th November 2022 Having taken an active interest in this subject for some years, I was pleased to attend this meeting, convened by the influential GLA and Age UK London. The fundamental principle is that toilet provision is a public health issue but the marked decline in availability, crucial for many older people, has increased. This has made social isolation worse as many don’t feel sufficiently confident to venture out if unclear about the availability of loos. This is significant because we know that social isolation […]

Memories of the Queen

This month we celebrate 35 years of service to Age UK organisations by our Finance and Corporate services officer, Margot Luke. Margot joined what is now Age UK Waltham Forest in September 1987 where she worked for 22 years and joined Age UK London in 2009 where she is an important and much appreciated member of our small team. During her time Margot has seen many changes within the charity, team members  coming and going and a merger between Help the Aged and Age Concern creating what is our network of Age UK today. Margot has also seen many world […]

The image of older adults in British advertising

A glimpse into the public perception of old age and ageing in the UK Within the last fifty years, the population pyramids of most European countries have seen clear changes in age structure, with Italy and Germany amongst the oldest societies in the world.[1] Looking at the United Kingdom, the median age has risen noticeably over the last two decades, from 37.5 years in 2000 to 40.2 years in 2019.[2] The share of persons aged 65 years or over stands now at almost 19% of the UK’s total population, resulting in an old-age dependency ratio of 28.9%—meaning that there are […]