This long read describes the main proposals of the Department of Health and Social Care's White Paper 'Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all', published on 11 February 2021. It also sets out The King's Fund's initial assessment of the proposals and their implications for the health and care system.
Read it now here
What are the long-term societal impacts of COVID-19? This short but substantial question led to this rapid integration of evidence and an extensive consultation process. As history has shown us, the effects of a pandemic are as much social, cultural and economic as they are about medicine and health. The aim of this report is to deliver an integrated view across these areas to start understanding the long-term impacts and how we address them.
This report along with the companion report (see below), The COVID decade – concluded that there are nine interconnected areas of long-term societal impact arising from the pandemic which could play out over the coming COVID decade, ranging from the rising importance of local communities, to exacerbated inequalities and a renewed awareness of education and skills in an uncertain economic climate.
The workshop was run in partnership with the Over Fifties Forum in North Allerton and concentrated on the topic of Digital Inclusion and was successfully held online using a digital platform! The session explored both the national landscape of policy for older people’s digital inclusion and sharing areas of good practice from within the region.
Our Speakers included John Kiernan, Innovation Lead for Centre for Ageing Better, Rachel Benn, Inclusion Officer and 100% Digital Based in Leeds and Sue Crowe, CEO of BTM who work across Bradford, Airedale and North Yorkshire. Subsequently, a panel Q&A was hosted between participants and speakers sharing personal experience, exploring barriers to digital inclusion and offering feedback from older people’s perspectives.
Our next workshop is planned for January and will be looking at areas relating to Social Prescribing.
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Digital Technology and Health Inequalities: A Scoping Review
The increasing use of digital channels and the use of social media are becoming a significant method the public are required to access in order to contact and receive health-related services and activities This report suggests that these digital channels access is not equal and the exclusion to these services mainly effects older people, rural communities and those with low incomes. Exclusion is often because of the lack of access, skills or motivation
The COVID-19 pandemic has also spurred many people to use digital services for the first time and to use the internet in different ways. But despite the increase in number of older people being online, there are still around 4 million people aged 55 and over who have never used the internet.
This report help us understand and offer advice on how equality can be promoted or risks mitigated in the design and use of digital technologies. We hope this scoping review will be of value to those seeking to better understand how the digital and health inequalities intersect, including leaders in national and local public sector organisations, and those involved in research and development of digital health technology. The report also helps to explain how digital exclusion may impact on an individual’s health and the actions needed to prevent some groups from being left behind.
Click here to see the report (opens in a new window)
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Census 2021
Households across Leeds will soon be asked to take part in Census 2021. The census is a once-in-a-decade survey that gives us the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales. It will be the first run predominantly online, with households receiving a letter with a unique access code, allowing them to complete the questionnaire on their computers, phones or tablets.
"A successful census will ensure everyone from local government to charities can put services and funding in the places where they are most needed," Iain Bell, deputy national statistician at the Office for National Statistics, said.
"This could mean things like doctors' surgeries, schools and new transport routes. That's why it is so important everyone takes part and we have made it easier for people to do so online on any device, with help and paper questionnaires for those that need them."
Census day will be on March 21, but households across the country will receive letters with online codes allowing them to take part from early March. The census will include questions about your sex, age, work, health, education, household size and ethnicity. And, for the first time, there will be a question asking people whether they have served in the armed forces, as well as voluntary questions for those aged 16 and over on sexual orientation and gender identity.
For more information, click here to visit the Census website:
The COVID-19 pandemic has also spurred many people to use digital services for the first time and to use the internet in different ways. But despite the increase in number of older people being online, there are still around 4 million people aged 55 and over who have never used the internet.
Click here to visit the Census website (opens in a new window)
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Are you ready for ageing?
As part of the report launch, we asked members of the public if they think they're ready for ageing and how different parts of society should respond to the 'age shift'.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube (opens in a new window)
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The State of Ageing in 2020
This is an online report with multiple chapters, capturing a snapshot of ageing today and considering our future prospects..
Click here for the report (opens in a new window)
Watch Centre for Ageing Better’s State of Ageing in 2020 webinar where a panel discussed our flagship report's key findings and presented a snapshot of what ageing might look like in the future.
Click here to watch the webinar (opens in a new window)
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The Road to Recovery: Bridging the digital divide
Facts and stats on how COVID-19 is changing the landscape of digital inclusion.
There are now more people aged 50 and over who are online than ever before. Over the last several years, the proportion of older people using the internet has risen considerably faster than for the general population.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also spurred many people to use digital services for the first time and to use the internet in different ways. But despite the increase in number of older people being online, there are still around 4 million people aged 55 and over who have never used the internet.
This collection of infographics sets out the picture of who is offline, the sort of benefits they're missing out on, and what must be done to support them.
Lockdown Webinars
During lockdown The Centre for Aging Better have been forced to move many aspects of our lives, from work to our social lives, completely online.
This webinar started the conversation on supporting people to get and stay online, and the measures needed to avoid worsening inequalities between the digitally included and excluded.
Click here to watch the webinars (opens in a new window)
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The Psychology of Loneliness: Why it Matters and what we can do?
People describe thoughts and feelings of loneliness with words like anxiety, fear, shame and helplessness. These powerful emotions can influence how we act. They can create a downward spiral where loneliness causes someone to withdraw further from family and friends and so become lonelier. This report looks at how psychological approaches can help tackle loneliness. It is focused on older people but has lessons for all adults. It gathers the current research and evidence available to us about what we can learn from psychology, as well as making policy recommendations for how this learning can be applied and help the millions of lonely people across the UK.
Click here to go to the Campaign to End Loneliness website (opens in a new window)
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Rolling out social prescribing – voluntary sector perspective
National Voices has published a new report: Rolling Out Social Prescribing: Understanding the experience of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (link opens in a new window)
The report found numerous examples of social prescribing (link to NCVO site opens in a new window) working well, with good integration into primary care networks. However, it did also identify several areas for improvement.
The report highlights the importance of strong relationships between voluntary organisations and primary care teams, the potential impact of taking a greater focus on tackling health inequalities, and the need to provide increased funding to organisations experiencing greater demand for their services through social prescribing. The report also stresses the importance of adequate funding for voluntary organisations overall, 'many of which have long been underfunded'.
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Consultation: Raising accessibility standards for new homes
The Government has launched a consultation (link to Government site opens in new window) on options to raise accessibility standards for new homes, noting the importance of suitable homes for older and disabled people.
The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 1st December 2020.
The consultation 'considers how the existing optional accessible and adaptable standard for homes and the wheelchair user standard are used and whether government should mandate a higher standard or reconsider the way the existing optional standards are used'.
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More On Social Prescribing
Social prescribing is a means for GPs and other health care professionals to refer patients via a link worker to non-clinical services in the local community. Social prescribing link workers help people to understand the underlying issues affecting their health and wellbeing and work with them to co-produce a personalised care and support plan. This paper details the development of social prescribing policies in England and provides an overview of schemes in the devolved nations. This report includes both benefits and criticisms.
Click here to see the report (pdf download opens in new window)
