FOCUS FEATURE
THE CARE INDUSTRY
Generationgame
With people living longer, the pressures and demands on the healthcare sector are well documented. Business Network Editor Nathan Fearn looks at whether healthcare, and society in general, could actually benefit from an ageing population in the years to come.
It’s often said that a picture can paint a thousand words. When it comes to an ageing population, the same could be said about statistics. Do a little research and it isn’t too difficult to come
across statistics that make emphatic and telling reading. Whether the topic - and the statistics attributed to it - be fiscal, political or societal, one relationship that can’t be disputed is the link between an ageing population and healthcare. The Government’s Political challenges relating to an
ageing population: Key issues for the 2015 Parliament report states that: “between 2015 and 2020, over a period when the general population is expected to rise three per cent, the numbers aged over 65 are expected to increase by 12% (1.1 million); the numbers aged over 85 by 18% (300,000); and the number of centenarians by 40% (7,000)”. Looking slightly further ahead, statistics obtained from
Age UK suggest that in the UK the number of people over 75 is projected to double in the next 30 years, with nearly one-in-five living to see their 100th birthday. While those in the UK living in the 15 to 64 age
group will grow in number on average by 29,000 a year, the numbers of people aged 65 and over will rise by 278,800 a year, according to the think-tank International Longevity Centre – UK. Globally, the number of people aged 60 or over is
expected to pass the 20 million mark by 2030. Arguably, public perception – and it’s unsurprising
given the current national conversation as to the strain the NHS is under – is that an ageing population is fundamentally a problem which requires a solution, from a healthcare perspective. Equally, Philip Hammond, as Chancellor of the
Exchequer, pledged in his recent budget to spend an extra £2bn but there’s a widely-held argument that social care - so inextricably linked to medical healthcare - is a cause for serious concern, with some talking of a social care crisis.
38 business network May 2017
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
