Minutes:
Debra Exall, Head of Strategic Policy, KCC, gave a presentation on Kent’s Later Life Strategy. It is out for consultation and summarises how people in Kent want to live their later lives and what they want from public and community services and facilities. People are living longer, healthier lives and we have more old people. Old people are the backbone of our communities, such as volunteers, carers and some still in paid employment. Some worry about the demographic time-bomb. The population is ageing but there are lots of good things about that. We need to grasp those opportunities and look at the implications and make sure we are preparing for people who will need support but understand that many older people do not need care and support and in fact they are giving the support.
Within the community, the council, fire, police and volunteer sector, we have been talking to residents in Kent about what should be in our strategy for later life and we are about to publish the over-arching strategy. Seven things have come out of the consultation:
1. Ensuring communities are designed to be strong and sustainable so people are included and have opportunities.
2. Transport and accessibility – this was a major issue for a lot of older people who are no longer car drivers.
3. Leading healthier lives and better access to healthcare.
4. Supporting older people’s citizenship, learning and part in community life.
5. Ensuring those people who need support can live independently.
6. Encouraging people to plan for future life i.e. financial planning and looking ahead.
7. Perception and how to promote positive image of old age and more respect and encouraging inter-generational activities.
The process the public services are going through is identifying what activities we already have and identifying any gaps of what we need to do more of, to come up with an action plan over a three year period. We have not defined the age of an older person, but the government talks about older people being 50+.
Older people’s services are across the board and through the strategy we wanted to highlight to all service providers the particular needs and requirements of older people rather than setting up something separate. We are raising the profile of older people’s champions and how we can evidence that older people are being heard and listened to. The older people’s champions will feed into this. Each district will have its own champion who will meet with chairs of pensioners’ forums etc. An older people’s handbook is being worked on.
Within a week or so we will publish the design draft strategy and that should not change that much.
The more specific interest for this Forum will be the action plan as that will be done on a district by district basis. This is the beginning of a process and will carry on and we are getting better at listening to the voices of older residents.
How is it going to be funded? Public services in Kent spend huge amounts of money so it is not about identifying additional resources as particularly in the current economic climate local government will have less money. This is about making sure we are getting the best out of the resources we have rather than additional resources, but that does not prohibit us doing different things – we can re-focus things on what we identify as a need in the area we are living. It is an opportunity of communicating with the local constituents and getting their input to shape the way in which the finances we have can address the needs.