Healthy Ageing

The overall goal of our healthy ageing programme is to generate strong local political commitment and to introduce policies and planning processes that will ensure a holistic and well-balanced approach to the health development and care needs of older people.

The four objectives for our programme are defined by WHO and are to:

• raise awareness and create a common understanding of the concept of healthy ageing, raising awareness and visibility of age issues within cities and generating debate in relation to policies and plans for improved health
• actively engage and involve older people in influencing, advising and monitoring city sector policies, initiatives and service provision
• actively engage and involve older people in influencing, advising and monitoring city sector policies, initiatives and service provision
• create health enhancing living environments that support healthy ageing outcomes by being well-designed, accessible and safe, taking into account the functional capacity of ageing and disadvantaged groups

What is Healthy Ageing?

Healthy ageing is a concept promoted by WHO, that considers the ability of people of all ages to live a healthy, safe and socially inclusive lifestyle.  It recognizes the factors beyond health and social care that have a major effect on the health and well being, and the contribution that must be made by all sectors with an influence on the determinants of health.  It also embraces a life course approach to health that recognizes the impact that early life experiences have on the way in which population groups’ age. 

Healthy ageing shifts strategic thinking away from a needs-based approach – the traditional approach used to deliver services to passive recipients – to a rights-based approach that recognizes the rights of people to equality of opportunity and treatment in all aspects, particularly as they age.  It fosters a positive attitude throughout life to growing old and seeks to break down stereotypes and change attitudes to ageing, promoting understanding between the generations.

Our Healthy Ageing programme

Our intensive programme on healthy ageing in 2005 and 2006 resulted in a unique joint event with the Eastern Health & Social Services Board in May 2006,  with the launch of a number of reports on older people by Belfast Healthy Cities  and the launch of the Eastern Health and Social Services Board’s (EHSSB) Older People’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy. 
The processes by both organisations over this period run parallel to ensure maximum synergy and concrete outcomes for action on older people. 

Our Healthy Ageing:InterAction Plan, an intersectoral action plan focusing on the social determinants of health for the Eastern Health and Social Services Board area is aimed at improving services for older people and improving co-ordination of existing services. The action plan will continue as a key element of our programme until 2009.  The aim of the plan is to promote and improve the health and wellbeing of older people through integrated planning and to encourage organisations to tailor services which specifically meet the needs of older people.
The plan focuses on action by sectors outside of the health and social care as well as health and social services organisations.  It builds on needs identified in consultations with older people and older people’s organisations. These highlighted six individual and one cross cutting theme as priorities:

• Transport
• Community Safety
• Home Safety
• Housing
• Poverty/Fuel Poverty
• Health Promotion
• Community support networks as a cross cutting theme

Under each theme, intersectoral working groups have developed an action plan which focuses on new action and improving co-ordination of existing initiatives for older people in the EHSSB area
We will produce a mid way report early in 2008, on how actions are progressing. We will also take the lead in implementing some of the agreed actions and we will contribute to the strategic development of Intersectoral Healthy Ageing models that will encourage an integrated approach and increased political involvement in older peoples issues.   
The EHSSB’s strategy sets out the main features for developing and improving the services available to provide care and support for older people. 

Raising Awareness

Through our healthy ageing process we have had a significant impact on raising awareness amongst public sector organisations and government departments of the need to specifically include older peoples’ issues in policies and actions.  This has resulted in a number of organisations in the city taking concrete steps to ensure visibility and action for older people
As part of raising awareness within public sector organisations and to support the action planning process, a mapping exercise was carried out with key organisations in the area in spring 2005. The purpose of the exercise was to establish what initiatives and services organisations currently aim at older people, and what the gaps are. The exercise showed that there was a wide range of initiatives in many organisations, but that some considered older people as part of wider programmes. It also indicated that provision was more limited in Ards and parts of rural Lisburn and Down than in other areas.

Older People: Health, social and living conditions

We have made a major contribution to understanding the social, health and living conditions of older people through the publication of two reports.  The reports provide an overview of available statistics and other qualitative information on older people. One report has been produced for the EHSSB area which includes six Districts Council areas, while a specific report on Belfast also has been produced using the same information.
It is the first time that information on older people has been collated for the entire EHSSB area or the City of Belfast. The key aim of both reports is to raise the profile of older people’s needs, act as a support in planning and also to highlight gaps in existing information. Information is presented at the most local level available, including electoral ward level where possible.  The reports will also contribute to a WHO European Healthy Cities Network analysis of older people in cities across Europe.
The reports provide information from a wide range of sources on the topics of

• Demography
• Health, mortality and lifestyle
• Health services and access to services
• Housing
• Income and social position
• Employment and occupation
• Transport
• Crime and community safety
• Leisure and recreation
• Education and lifelong learning
• Access, participation and support

The report concludes that a wealth of information on older people is available, but that there are gaps. Identified gaps include:

• There is currently no systematically collected information on the prevalence of certain conditions among older people, such as diabetes, dementia, heart conditions and mental health problems
• There is also no information on drug use, including use of tranquillisers, or how well older people manage medication
• There is little systematically collected information on older people’s views and experiences

Our main conclusion is that organisations appear to collect information which is easily available or required for financial monitoring purposes, while less consideration is given to how well information supports policy and service development. Our key recommendation is that to provide services which meet older people’s needs, organisations need to improve information collection systems. In particular, mechanisms need to be created to collate information which is not immediately available.

Healthy Ageing Resources

This section lists a number of resources relevant to healthy ageing. Please note that the links lead to external websites and that Belfast Healthy Cities is not responsible for content on these sites.

International

Madrid International Plan on Ageing (United Nations, 2002)
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/

United Nations Principles for Older Persons.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/iyop/iyoppop

Active Ageing: A Policy Framework (WHO, 2002)
http://www.euro.who.int/ageing

European Union policy
http://www.europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/s02311.htm

UK/Republic of Ireland

Opportunity Age: Meeting the Challenges of Ageing in the 21st Century (Department for Work and Pensions, 2005)
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/opportunity_age/

The Strategy for Older People in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (2003)
http://www.wales.gov.uk/subisocialpolicy/content/older/older-people-final-e.pdf

National Council on Ageing and Older People (RoI)
http://www.ncaop.ie/healthy.html

Northern Ireland
Ageing in an Inclusive Society, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, 2005)