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Making London an Age-friendly City
“Knowing where to start is a daunting prospect but thanks to last June’s announcement that the Mayor had signed London up to the World Health Organisation’s Age Friendly Community we have a strong platform to build on. Age UK London first called for London to sign up as an Age-friendly City ahead of the 2016 Mayoral Elections and whilst we now have a commitment from the Mayor it will be actions on the ground that decide whether we earn the right to call London an Age-friendly City.”
We’ve launched a brand new campaign to make London an Age-friendly City! Our new Campaigns Officer John McGeachy explains how we can achieve this.
The Internet is for Everyone!
“Learning about the internet and how to use social media is also a great way to spend time with your family – albeit online. Ask your friends and family for their Instagram handles, then set up a profile and start taking photos. You’ll be joining the ranks of the 25% of Brits over 50 who claim apps make their family lives easier, from organising special occasions to communicating day-to-day.”
All the buzzwords and jargon can make the internet seem a strange and terrifying place to be. Never fear! Hannah Waters explains why the internet is for everyone and offers some top tips for staying safe online.
NHS 10 Year Plan – Some Progress but There’s Something Missing
“Prevention is key theme of the Plan, although it focuses specifically on 5 areas – smoking, obesity, alcohol, air pollution and anti-microbial resistance. But even this is a huge step forward in challenging the “treatment” model that the NHS is built on – dealing with what the patient presents as a problem. It also talks about individuals playing their part in achieving health outcomes, which is also welcome. The NHS needs to work “with” patients not “on” them.”
The NHS 10 Year Plan features some great leaps forward, but there’s something missing. Our CEO Paul Goulden explains why we should be pleased and what needs to change.
Resilience and Self Care
Later life should be a time of enjoyment and growth, but with cuts in local authority spending on older people and continuing pressures on the NHS, the picture often painted is a bleak one. In recent years resilience and self-care have become buzzwords around older peoples services, but are they just code for “cuts”, or is there something more to this movement? If we know what ageing well might look like, what can we put in place in the way of resilience and self-care that can make that a reality?
Our CEO Paul Goulden investigates resilience and self-care – what we can do for older people in our community, and what barriers need to be overcome.
The Power of Touch in Tackling Loneliness
“It’s estimated that 1.2 million people are chronically lonely in the UK. The support structures for loneliness aren’t always strong, and it’s believed that around one in ten people visit their GP surgery because they are lonely. According to a report by the Campaign to End Loneliness, around two fifths of older people said that television was their main source of company. The pain associated with loneliness, has been compared to physical pain and the health effects of loneliness are astounding. It’s been compared to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and is estimated to be twice as deadly as obesity. In addition, the risk of developing high blood pressure, dementia, depression and anxiety increase for those dealing with loneliness.”
With over 44,000 older Londoners described as “chronically lonely”, Ryan Mizzen looks at the consequences of a lack of physical contact on the health and wellbeing of older people.
Inner London pensioner poverty still high – latest figures
Any idea that ‘pensioner poverty has been solved’ is challenged by figures in the 2015 edition of “Households Below Average Income” (HBAI) published recently by the DWP and covering up to 2013-14.
Across the UK, 1.6 million pensioners (14%) were considered to be in ‘relative low income’ and 1.9 million (16%)…