The BGS has submitted a written representation to England's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, ahead of the Spring Budget. In this letter, we urge the Chancellor to prioritise investment in rehabilitation services, providing care closer to home, provision of healthcare in care homes and the health and social care workforce.
HM Treasury welcomes representations to be considered as part of decisions which will be taken as part of the Budget and with this in mind, BGS has submitted a representation highlighting the importance of investment in older people’s healthcare.
We are asking the Chancellor to use the Spring Budget to prioritise the NHS and, in particular, older people’s healthcare – the largest user group of health and care services.
Almost 12 million people in the UK are of pensionable age and this is projected to rise to over 15 million by 2045. There will also be a significant increase in the number of very old people with the over-85 population set to double by 2045. The Government must prepare now for this rapid growth of the largest user group of NHS and social care services.
The BGS highlights evidence showing that people aged 65 and over account for 40% of admissions to acute hospitals and that 47% of hospital inpatients aged over 65 have frailty. Outside of hospital, around 10% of those aged over 65 live with frailty, rising to between a quarter to a half of those over 85. Frailty alone costs healthcare systems in the UK £5.8 billion a year. These figures are not inevitable, nor are they irreversible. With the right support and investment, frailty can be slowed and, in some cases, reversed, enabling older people to lead more healthy lives for longer and to maintain independence, avoiding expensive hospital admissions and delaying social care costs.
