New approach to ageing: older people lead project to improve later years | Paul Burstow

Community research has identified challenges of ageing. Now social entrepreneurs are being invited to develop solutions

By the time the NHS celebrates its 100th birthday in 2048, there will be more than 100,000 centenarians in the UK. This age shift is both global and personal. We are living longer and many of us are living better too. But too often, ageing seems to be more a source of consternation than celebration.

“For more than half a century now, we have treated the trials of sickness, ageing and mortality as medical concerns. It’s been an experiment in social engineering, putting our fates in the hands of people more valued for their technical prowess than for their understanding of human needs. The experiment has failed,” says surgeon Atul Gawande in his book Being Mortal.

Related: Innovation and tech can create social care services for the future | Geoff Mulgan

Transform Ageing is not just fostering social ventures​ –​ it is stimulating interest in the NHS and local government

Related: Meet Pepper the robot – Southend's newest social care recruit

Continue reading... October 18, 2017 at 01:55PM