UK needs 71,000 more care home places in eight years, study predicts
Stories like this make me increasingly nervous about growing old in rural England. I have been doing some work on our Neighbourhood Plan evidence base and was ashamed that only through this process did I realise we have no-one over 85 living in my village. This story tells us both why and how things are only going to get worse. It tells us:
An extra 71,000 care home spaces are needed in the next eight years to cope with Britain’s soaring demand as people living longer face more health problems, a study has found.
New research predicts there will be an additional 353,000 older people with complex needs by 2025, requiring tens of thousands more beds.
The findings from a team of academics at Newcastle University, published in the Lancet medical journal, revealed that many people over the age of 65 are now living longer but with substantial care needs.
The number of people needing round-the-clock help to feed and dress themselves is predicted to rise by 163,000. For adults over 65 the number of years spent with substantial care needs has doubled between 1991 and 2011.
The paper’s lead author, Prof Carol Jagger from Newcastle University, said: “The past 20 years have seen continued gains in life expectancy but not all of these years have been healthy … this finding, along with increased number of older adults with higher rates of illness and disability, is contributing to the current social care crisis.” Jagger called for more prevention work to be done to make sure people get support early on.
Margaret Willcox, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said findings showed the “urgent need” to look at how care is funded. She added: “Unless a long-term sustainable solution is established to tackle significant sector pressures … [more people] will struggle to receive personal, dignified care.”