Older people in the North of England are more likely to be poorer, less healthy, physically inactive, lonely and in poor housing – resulting in millions of pounds of avoidable NHS costs.
In a new report from the Northern Health Science Alliance, partly based on research by University of Manchester experts entitled “Ageing in the North”, researchers have catalogued an “alarming” range of disadvantages faced by older people living in the North, in areas such as health, life expectancy, housing, nutrition, employment, and social isolation.
The authors stress that this inequality is mainly driven by economic and social factors, and is “totally reversible” – as long as policymakers are bold enough to act. For example, targeted investment has the potential to reduce or recover as much as £10.9 billion in lost productivity costs, £315 million in NHS costs from falls and hip fractures, and £588 million in NHS costs from treating conditions resulting from poor housing.
“Ageing in the North” is published by the Northern Health Science Alliance’s Ageing North network – including a multi-disciplinary team from Durham University, Lancaster University, The University of Manchester, Newcastle University, and the University of Sheffield – and Health Equity North. The team features expertise from a wide range of disciplines, from biology to sociology.
Researchers analysed existing data through a regional lens to examine the different ways in which ageing is experienced across England. They explored issues such as poverty and employment, health expectancies, long-term chronic conditions, frailty and falls, physical activity, nutrition, dementia and cognitive frailty, social support and unpaid care, social isolation and loneliness, housing and ethnicity.
Among its findings,people from the South are more likely to retire, while those in the North are more likely to leave the job market due to poor health while Older people living in the North East and North West are 1.61 and 1.33 times, respectively, more likely to be frail, 1.16 and 1.06 times more likely to have a fall that requires hospital treatment, and 1.14 and 1.12 times more likely to have a hip fracture compared to older people living in the South East
The report is being launched at an event in Westminster today hosted by MP for Shipley, Anna Dixon, who wrote the Foreword.
Anna Dixon said: “Where you live shouldn’t affect your experience of ageing. This report brings into sharp focus the reality of how unequal ageing is across England. If we want to create a society that supports everyone to live and age better, we need to tackle the wider societal issues that result in some people in some communities dying earlier and living longer in poor health. This needs a life course approach, from childhood to adulthood, that enables people to remain active, stay healthy and contribute to society for as long as possible.”
Leading academics behind the report are now calling on the Government to recognise the challenges faced by people in later life and to prioritise tackling the root causes of unequal ageing. The report includes evidence-based policy recommendations, which could go a long way to reversing the widening inequality gap between North and South.
