Making old age fun: more buses, play areas … and loos

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/27/making-old-age-fun-buses-play-areas-loos

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Bang on time for the start of a new council cycle, a detailed 58-page report will next month set out the degree to which local neighbourhoods must adapt if they are to meet the needs of an ageing society. Between 2010 and 2018 an extra two million people will have become 65. Two years after that, the baby boomers of the 1960s begin retiring.

For six months, two leading charities on ageing issues, ILC-UK and Age UK, have worked with academics, researchers and professionals seeking solutions to the challenges raised by this seismic demographic shift. The report, Making our Communities Ready for Ageing, focuses on three main themes: at home; getting out and about; and ensuring communities offer what older people want.

But it goes on to declare: "If communities are to work for today's and tomorrow's older population, planners must focus on how we ensure that they deliver much more than the basics. There is not enough emphasis on fun and playfulness for older people. Communities need to work for all ages and cannot segregate the needs of different groups."

The majority of older people (90%) are living in mainstream housing. Of the other 10%, 6% are in sheltered or retirement housing, and 4% in residential or nursing homes. There is a mismatch because 40% of homes were built before 1945 and 20% before 1919 when homes were filled with far more children – and far fewer older people. Equally difficult, there have been far too few houses – with much less space – built in the last two decades, making adaptations for older people more difficult.

Today there are seven million older householders occupying 30% of all homes. Currently 1.4 million of them have a medical condition that requires specially adapted accommodation. Government projections suggest 60% of household growth through to 2033 will involve someone over 65. But social care, which plays a key role in keeping people at home, is in trouble. Since 2010 local authorities have been forced to cut £1.2bn from the service, cutting off 250,000 older people from help.

The report calls for a bigger push on housing improvements and suggests a tax-incentivised voucher scheme might help. It wants to see improved insulation to reduce the 31,000 excess deaths during the winter of 2013, and new homes with more space.

One of the best ways of improving physical and mental health is getting out and about. Over 3.4 million of the over-65s live alone. Many feel isolated and alone. Three barriers to getting out are: cuts to bus services, the squeeze on community transport, and the closure of public toilets, raising concern among older people of being "caught out".

A long list of solutions include car sharing schemes for people wanting to stop driving; community transport, such as school or university buses, being open to others; and more use of bicycles. Only 1% of journeys made by over-65s in England and Wales involve a bicycle, compared to 9% in Germany, 15% in Denmark, and 23% in the Netherlands.

The report calls on health and welfare boards to push for more cycling schemes. It also asks the same boards to make the availability of public toilets – 40% of which have been shut in the last decade – a public health issue.

There are several simple ways communities could be made more friendly for an ageing society. More seats at bus stops, in shops, parks, and public squares. Local public health campaigns on loneliness, involving GPs and encouraging easier access to community groups. And, more fun through more access to playgrounds for older people.