Thursday, 27 September 2012
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s Executive Director of Public Health has today (27 September) published his second independent annual report which focuses on older people.
The North Wales population already has higher proportions of people aged over 65 years than Wales
The report also highlights the variations and inequalities in health status amongst local communities and recommends targeting resources to improve health. Key priorities for better health outcomes include protecting health through immunisation, preventing falls and treating chronic illness early in the community.
Andrew Jones, Executive Director of Public Health for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said, “There are many older people in our communities and we will all be old one day.
It is vitally important therefore that we take actions and plan to make the later years of life as fulfilling as possible. To achieve this we need to take a proactive approach to ageing whilst recognising that at times, and particularly, in later older age, people will need support and extra help. We need to provide this in the most effective way, with organisations and communities working together in partnership.
To improve outcomes, prevention and early ‘upstream’ intervention must be a key part of our approach to planning and delivering services.”
The full report can be downloaded from the following link
Notes to editors
In North Wales the65 + group is predicted to increase by 60% between 2008 and 2033
The number of people aged 16-64 in North Wales is projected to fall by 6% between 2008 and 2033.
The population of those aged 85 and over is expected to double by 2033
There is a widening in inequities in healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived