Healthy ageing and caring approaches
Approach
Encourage healthy ageing and caring with signposting to keeping active, engaged and independent, including access to frailty friendly living and homes.
We can consider healthy ageing ‘as the promotion of healthy living and the prevention and management of illness and disability associated with ageing’ [9]. A person’s well-being could be explored across the following domains: resilience, independence, health, income and wealth, and having a role and having time [10]. We know community connectivity through social interaction is crucial to enable people to live meaningful lives. Therefore, a person’s environment is fundamental to successful healthy ageing.
The following are examples of what to consider when thinking about healthy ageing https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/field/field_publication_file/making-health-care-systems-fit-ageing-population-oliver-foot-humphries-mar14.pdf:
- Influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia vaccination
- Adequate treatment for ‘minor conditions’ which may limit independence
- Life-course approaches: regular exercise, not smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, healthy eating and preventing obesity
- Housing right for older people
- Cold weather planning
- National screening programmes
The following are examples of what you should consider when thinking about healthy caring
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/nhs-practcl-guid-caring.pdf
- Seek help and support from others (e.g. services, associations)
- Seek an assessment for your own health and care needs
- Look after your own health and wellbeing (e.g. understand health conditions)
- Taking a break
- Making better use of technology
- Preparing for the end of caring
Resources
- Encourage Healthy Ageing with a healthy living passport for empowerment and self-care https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/hlthy-ageing-brochr.pdf
- Practical Guide to Healthy Caring: companion guide to the healthy ageing guide which provides information and advice to older carers about staying healthy whilst caring and identifies the support available to help carers maintain their health and wellbeing.
- Be active for Life. BHF guide https://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/being-active/be-active-for-life
- Prevention Package for Older People, Department of Health, 2009 – http://profound.eu.com/the-prevention-package-for-older-people-doh-2009/
- Let’s Get Moving, Department of Health, 2009 – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/let-s-get-moving-resources-help-promote-physical-activity
- NICE. Strategy, policy and commissioning to delay or prevent onset of dementia, disability and frailty (pathway)- https://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/dementia-disability-and-frailty-in-later-life-mid-life-approaches-to-delay-or-prevent-onset
- PHE guide to community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing – https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2018/02/28/health-matters-community-centred-approaches-for-health-and-wellbeing
- World Health Organisation’s Active Ageing Policy Framework – Active Ageing: A policy framework, World Health Organization, 2002 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/dh.gov.uk/en/publicationsandstatistics/publications/publicationspolicyandguidance/dh_4080994
- BMA. Healthy Ageing site – https://www.bma.org.uk/collective-voice/policy-and-research/public-and-population-health/healthy-ageing
- European Innovation Partnership on active and healthy ageing. Prevention and diagnosis of frailty and functional decline https://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/active-healthy-ageing/gp_a3.pdf
- The prevention of frailty should include both the promotion of healthy lifestyles among the middle-aged and older people and emphasise enablement and maintaining independence. Age UK. Healthy Ageing evidence review. https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/reports-and-publications/reports-and-briefings/health–wellbeing/rb_april11_evidence_review_healthy_ageing.pdf
- National Voices, a national coalition of health and care charities, developed a person-centred ‘narrative’ on integration with. Think Local Act Personal
- further partnership created a Memorandum of Understanding to support joint action on improving health through the home, setting out a shared commitment to integrated working across health, social care and housing – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-action-on-improving-health-through-the-home-memorandum-of-understanding
- Housing for Health website http://www.salixandco.com/new/new-news/client-news/health-must-begin-at-home-stronger-collaboration-with-housing-could-save-the-nhs-billions-of-pounds-a-year/
- The cost of poor housing to the NHS – http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/pdf/87741-Cost-of-Poor-Housing-Briefing-Paper-v3.pdf
- Housing Health Cost Calculator – www.housinghealthcosts.org
- Housing for Older People in Wales: an Evidence Review. Public Policy Institute for Wales, June 2015
- Housingforhealth NHS alliance website http://www.housingforhealth.net/
- NICE links to resources and tools around excess winter deaths and illness and the health risks associated with cold homes. NICE Guidance: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng6
- NICE Quality standard on reducing winter deaths and illness associated with cold homes: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs117
Evidence
- Nutritional intervention is proposed widely to be an important component of frailty management, while inadequate nutritional intake is an important modifiable risk factor for frailty.
- Diet is less extensively investigated, but a suboptimal protein/total calorie intake and vitamin D insufficiency have both been implicated in frailty. There is emerging evidence that frailty increases in the presence of obesity particularly in the context of other unhealthy behaviours such as inactivity, a poor diet and smoking.
- Effectiveness Matters: Recognising and managing frailty in primary care – Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, The University of York – https://www.york.ac.uk/crd/publications/effectiveness-matters/frailty-primary-care/
- Sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for developing frailty. Exercise can improve physical performance and reduce physical frailty. Exercise in frail older people is effective and relatively safe, and may reverse frailty
- Advantage – management of frailty at an individual level: Systematic review – http://advantageja.eu/images/WP6-Managing-frailty-at-individual-level-a-Systematic-Review.pdf
- Physical activity improves gait speed but has no consistent effect on balance, ADL, functional mobility or quality of life
- Resistance, functional and balance training appear to have significant positive effects on physical fitness outcomes, ADL and quality of life in older people with frailty living in care homes. Benefits include:
- Helps maintain cognitive function
- Reduces cardiovascular risk
- Helps maintain ability to carry out daily living activities
- Improved mood and can improve self-esteem
- Reduces the risk of falls
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20881587
- Volunteering: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that formal volunteering to be worth almost £24billion per year
- Foster, R. Household Satellite Accounts: Valuing Voluntary Activity in the UK. London: Office for National Statistics; 2013.
- Housing: A recent report suggests that inadequate housing is costing the NHS £1.4billion a year, but this only takes the poorest 15% of housing stock in England into consideration and does not include any mental health issues associated with inadequate housing. Significant numbers of physical accidents, respiratory and mental health conditions can be directly attributed to poor quality housing.
- Healthy Caring
- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Local stories
LINKS
Top Tips on ‘delivery and implementation’
XXXXXXXXXX
Top Tips on ‘workforce, skills and training’
XXXXXXXXXX
