Chief Medical Officer's annual report recommends actions to improve quality of life for older adults

Published this week, the aim of the Chief Medical Officer's report is to concentrate on issues which are about improving the quality of life in an adult’s later years, rather than the quantity.

After reducing disease - to prevent, delay or minimise disability and frailty - the second broad approach his report argues for is to change the environment so that, for a given level of disability, people can maintain their independence longer. 

The report recommends that the NHS, social care, central and local government must start planning more systematically on the basis of where the population will age in the future and details how this must include building or adapting housing.

The report also makes reference to work of the Housing LIN and the TEC Services Association (TSA), funded by The Dunhill Medical Trust, on TAPPI, seeking to address the opportunity that technology has to enhance the lives of our ageing population and the barriers that prevent its adoption.