Page 5, 2nd July 1999

2nd July 1999

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Page 5, 2nd July 1999 — Being old in the new age
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Being old in the new age

Sally Greengross responds to The Catholic Herald's criticisms of the Debate of the Age HIS ARTICLE outlines • the position of Age Concern on the life • and death issues that w" ere commented on at length in The Catholic iderald of June 4.
Firstly, it is important to Understand the distinction between Age Concern England and the Debate of the Age. Age Concern England is the national Centre for a network of hundreds of Age Concern 6rganisations providing i.nformation and direct services to older people around the country. The Age Concern movement is the fargest voluntary provider of services to older people. Years of policy analysis and research have established Age Concern England as the authoritative national voice on ageing issues and given Us a lead role in campaigning to influ ence both the policies and the practices affecting older people.
The Millennium Debate of the Age is a major programme of pubCc consultation and debate Which was initiated by Age Concern Co promote awareness of Ind stimulate discussion out the chal ienges that Olce us all as society ages. Although Age Concern facilitates the debate the programme involves a wide range of professionals, Politicians of all major parties and members of the public in discussion. The debate has no hidden agenda 8r predetermined outcomes, 6ut it does aim to encourage discussion of some difficult challenges which will face us all in the future. The debate offers an unprecedented opportunity for the nation to understand better how demographic change is affecting our lives, our families, our work and the world around us. It is everybody's opportunity to play a part in shaping our most important economic, social and welfare priorities for the new millennium.
The debate aims to raise difficult issues, and to encourage us all to address them now, before it's too late. As we enter the next millennium, we should pause and consider. Could we do any better than our predecessors? Could we avoid war, mayhem and holocaust on the scale seen in our century and before? The debate is, of course, concerned with issues in the UK not with global problems, but there are still plenty of difficult things we need to sort out. Can we promote good health, combat disease, eradicate poverty? We could — it's up to us. Why, you may ask, should we all be so concerned about the next century? Is it, after all, going to be that different from the 1990s? The fact is that a huge demographic upheaval is taking place — society is ageing at an unprecedented rate.
In 1951 there were 300 people over 100; in 30 years there will be 34,000. This means the shape of society will be very different — there won't be significantly more people in the 21st century, but there will be fewer young people and more older people. Society is ageing.
The Debate of the Age is not saying the ageing of society is a negative thing. In fact it's a credit to the huge social and technological advances that mean We're all living longer. It's also a result of the fact that women are now having fewer children and having them later in life than before. So, the whole balance of the population is changing. What the ageing of society does is to offer us a major opportunity. We need to review key areas of society — our finances, our work places, our family life, our values and our healthcare — and ask a key question: what changes do we need to consider in order to best support the ageing of society?
The debate asks every one of us, whether policy makers; professionals or family members, to begin considering and addressing our responsibilities. The following facts are instructive: • In 1996 there were 9.25 million people over 65 in the UK. By 2021 this will have increased to nearly 12 million, rising still further to reach 14.6 million by 2061.
• By the middle of the next century the number of people aged over 75 will have doubled while the number aged 90 and over will have more than tripled.
• At the same time the numbers of people under 16 will steadily fall from 12 million in 1996 to just over 10 million in 2061.
• Life expec tancy is projected to increase from 74.3 years in 1996 to 77.9 years by 2021 for men and from 79.5 years in 1996 to 82.6 years in 2021 for women.
• In 1991, 21 per cent of the workforce was aged 2034. By 2001 this will have dropped to just 14 per cent.
• In just one generation, the number of first-time marriages has halved and divorces have trebled.
• In 1996, for the first time, more women had babies between the ages of 30 and 35 than those aged 20 to 25.
• We are having fewer children; and at the other end life expectancy is increasing. Declining birth rates will mean a change in the median age.
• Longer life means we can now, on average, expect to have 9,000 days of leisure after retirement.
When the National Health Service was designed, life expectancy was around 50 years. Today it is around 74 for men and 79 for women. It was set up when 60 per cent of the population was under 20. Soon 50 per cent of the population will be over 50. This is the tremendous tribute to medicine and to improved social conditions. It creates great opportunities for a healthier old age. But it is also testament to the substantial changes that are taking place in our society now.
With retirement lasting potentially 30 years and with the ratio of working-age people to those of pensionable age projected to change from 4:1 in 1996 to 2.4:1 in 2061, the question of how to provide for incomes in later life is crucial.
Relatively fewer younger people will enter the job market in years to come, making it important to reconsider how we utilise the skills and expertise of older workers. Should we legislate against age discrimination or encourage people to stay in work beyond 65? How can we make sure that older workers are kept up to date with the latest techniques and technologies?
By 2016 there will be 4.4 million new households in the UK, in part due to the rise in older people living alone for longer. How towns and cities can be designed and planned to maximise mobility and accessibility for these older people is a crucial issue.
Who'd have thought a few years ago that a 60-year-old could give birth to a child or a 77-year-old would embark on a space voyage or even that an 88-year-old could run a marathon? Yet the achievements of older people seem increasingly to hold no bounds. As our society ages we must look at how to change deep-seated views and prejudices about age and ability. We also need to consider the choice and opportunities open to individuals as they age. End-of-life issues form one small, but important, part of the discussions around values and attitudes in an ageing society.
Readers of The Catholic Herald may have been concerned by the misleading headlines in three separate editorial pieces in the June 4 issue. Age Concern England is not promoting either voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. As a charity the organisation does not feel it is appropriate for it to hold a view on these matters. Neither does the Debate of the Age advocate either type of euthanasia. What the debate does do is to promote discussion on a whole range of issues around the end of life, including access to palliative care. The Values and Attitudes report referred to in The Catholic Herald was intended to promote discussion of a wide range of issues, not to determine future policy. Indeed as the paper itself says, "our aim is not to advocate the superiority of one particular option that might be pursued at the end of life. Rather we seek to stress that giving patients a choice between options is justified in terms of respect for people's differing deepseated convictions about what gives life value and meaning".
The new millennium provides the opportunity for people to stand back and think about their future. As individuals, employers and members of communities we must look at the broader issues facing society. These include: • What homes we will want to live in.
• How and whether people should remain in the work force for longer.
• What choice the individual should have about care at the end of life.
• How we can afford health care demands when medical advances mean that more of us will live for longer.
• What form of pension provision will provide the best value and assurance.
The Government and industry have started to look at many of these issues, but there is still a real contribution we can all make.
The debate involves activity on a number of levels: • Research and policy development by profession als and academics in all walks of life, in particular the Millennium Papers study groups who are looking in detail at some of the issues facing us in the future in the areas of health and social care, paying for age, values and attitudes, work and lifestyles and the built environment.
• Involvement and feedback from a whole host of participating organisations and individuals — including the Soroptimists, Age Concern organisations, local authorities, BMA, RCN, CBI, Girl Guides, British Youth Council, health authorities, pensioner organisations and many faith groups.
• Another strand of activity revolves around the Citizens Jury process — the largest exercise of its kind ever undertaken in the UK. Through a series of special-, ist events run for the Debate of the Age by the Institute of Public Policy Research we are eliciting detailed responses from a representative sample of the general public.
Each jury takes place within a town or community and participants are selected from that region. They come together for a two-day event where they hear evidence on a given topic from a series of experts before reaching their conclusions. This detailed process gives us real feedback on the issues in question.
The vast programme of debates and related activities will continue until late this summer and then begins the process of drawing together conclusions and taking the discussion further.
A series of final regional debates will be held across the nation in the autumn of this year, with hundreds of debating partners expected to attend.
These priorities will in turn inform the agenda for three days of final debate in London early in December, where a series of policy priorities will be identified and agreed. A full report and recommendations "The Agenda for the Age" will be presented to government early in 2000.
So the debate is all about indentifying priorities and influencing policy for the future, something we should all be involved in.
The final outcomes of the debate will reflect the wealth and range of input to the debate, and the outcomes of the debate will not necessarily reflect current or future Age Concern policy.
In order for the debate to be as representative as possible it is important that everyone who feels strongly about an issue makes their own contribution to the debate. I do hope that Catholic Herald readers will take this opportunity.
To find out more about how to get involved write to the Debate of the Age, Walkden House, 10 Melton Street, London NW1 or visit the Debate website at www.age2000.org.uk.
Sally Greengross OBE is director general of Age Concern England and executive chairman of the Debate of the Age.




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