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A consensus on healthy ageing

A consensus on healthy ageing cover

This initiative supported by a range of organisations across national and local government, charity and voluntary organisations, public health, academics and the NHS, and has been facilitated by Public Health England and the Centre for Ageing Better.

Its purpose is to set out our shared commitments on healthy ageing and to demonstrate our leadership as we enter the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing 2020-2030.

The vision is for England to be the best place in the world to grow older, giving everyone the opportunities and support they need to have a healthy and good quality later life and making the best use of the strengths, skills and experience of older people. It is underpinned by the following 5 commitments:

  1. Putting prevention first and ensuring timely access to services and support when needed.
  2. Removing barriers and creating more opportunities for older adults to contribute to society.
  3. Ensuring good homes and communities to help people remain healthy, active and independent in later life.
  4. Narrowing inequalities in years of life lived in good health between richer and poorer people, between different population groups and between different areas of the country – focussing efforts on those most at risk.  
  5. Challenging ageist and negative language, culture and practice

On the housing front, it recognises that poor housing can contribute to and exacerbate many long-term health conditions. “We want to improve the quality of our existing mainstream housing stock and future-proof new homes, ensuring they are built to be accessible and adaptable. We also want more diverse housing options that meet the needs of older adults across all tenures – home ownership, social housing and the private rented sector. With a growing proportion of older private renters, we want to improve conditions in the poorest quality private rented accommodation and identify ways of supporting low income owner-occupiers to access funds to repair and improve their homes. To support people to remain connected as they age, we want to ensure the provision of accessible transport links and good quality green spaces, maintain services and facilities as close to people’s homes as possible, and adopt a range of community-centred approaches that support and encourage community participation among people of all ages."