Politicians Ignore Stagnating Life Expectancy

As people get older, it’s important to look into how to meet the lifestyle and healthcare needs as we get older – and disability baths are just one way to go about doing this.

Despite measures such as this, politicians in the UK government’s health department have been criticised for failing to target the stagnating life expectancy in this country.

The criticism comes as the government is looking at raising the pension age, a move which some academics say is unfair due to the stagnating life expectancy of many.

“Concerns about life expectancy have been raised by academics at least twice in 2017, and twice the [Department of Health’s] responses have been disappointing, even attacking the researchers involved,” they wrote in the article for the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Fingers are being pointed at other countries such as Scandinavia and Japan, where life expectancies continue to grow.

There are a number of reasons being given for the lengthening of life expectancy in many areas with the improvement of healthcare and the lack of natural disasters and epidemics being cited as reasons why life expectancy is growing.

The researchers also flagged the growing gap in life expectancy for people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and areas.

Though researchers argue that eventually a plateau should eventually be reached we are “nowhere near that”, and the stagnating life expectancy in this country is the worst in Europe.

Though the government has admitted they think the socioeconomic disparities are cause for concern, they say that there is still improvement as a result of the money they have pumped into the NHS.

Nursing Shortage Exacerbating Bed Blocking

Shower seats and disability baths can help you retain your independence in your own home.

Older people may be more likely to have falls or break bones, but with the correct care you can be back, and living independently in no time.

Unfortunately the ‘bed blocking’ crisis, which sees older people unable to be discharged from hospital despite recovery has been worsening for some time now. This is often as there is no suitable place or care available for older people leaving hospital meaning they aren’t discharged and are stuck there.

The lack of nurses in the UK is thought to be exacerbating this problem, as they are not in the community providing the care older people need due to cuts to district nursing.

The number of district nurses in the UK has plummeted by 44 per cent since 2010 an analysis of NHS data has revealed. This is despite the number of people aged 60 and over admitted to hospital rising by 65 per cent since 2008.

“We need to take a much more rounded view of the whole health and social care system, including workforce planning for essential roles like district and community nurses and a proper assessment of what more social care providers could offer to ease pressure on hospitals,” Michael Hodges, head of care consultancy at Christie & Co told The Guardian.

He blames Government ministers for failing to see the ‘bigger picture’ in the NHS and care crisis, which is leading to problems that are exacerbating the crisis further.

Japan Developing Mobility Aiding Robots For Elderly

Here in the UK, we can help our elderly people maintain their mobility by altering their homes, installing the likes of disability baths so that they can keep living their lives to the fullest. However, in Japan, they’re going one step further to keep their ageing population on the move, by inventing robots to aid mobility according to Reuters.

You always think of robots helping around the house as something from a futuristic movie, but in japan car manufacturers are moving away from vehicles and looking at how they can create robots to help their increasingly ageing population. Toyota, in Japan, already have a rental service in which they offer robots to help rehabilitate patients who have had trauma such as a stroke, to aid them in their recovery and help them learn to walk and strengthen their legs.

Japan has a more rapid ageing population with 26.7 per cent of the population being over the age of 65 in 2015, compared to the average figure across the rest of the world being only 8.5 per cent.

With a decline in the birthrate and increased need for elderly care there are less people able to take on the job of taking care of them, meaning that the introduction of robots to assist is an important one. The amount of people buying cars in Japan has also fallen by 8.5 per cent in the last 3 years as the older generations are giving up their cars and there’s far less demand from the younger generation for vehicles.