The challenge is enormous. The needs of older people are complex. One in four hospital inpatients has dementia and one in three adults admitted acutely to hospital is in the last year of their life. With life expectancy increasing – by 2030, it will be 88 for men and 91 for women – demand for services won’t slow down.
This has created a difficult situation for the NHS, which simply doesn’t have the capacity to cope with the numbers coming through its doors. Indeed, many hospitals are reporting huge pressures from both increased A & E attendance at the front end and delayed transfers of care at the back end, according to a benchmarking report, Older People in Acute Settings, published by the NHS in April this year.
Original article: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28575-ageing-well/
