United Kingdom consists of a mixture of cultures, religion and societal norms. The United Kingdom has always tried to combine four separate countries under one umbrella. The aim of the report is to highlight upon the changes in the changes within the demographic patterns of and the trends within the UK society. The same will be compared with that different cultural locations, social groups and ethnicity. It will also provide information about the type of social care provided to the aged population.
The increasing share of the older person in the population is posing a significant transformation in the society in the 21st century. the ageing society in having its implication in every sector of the society, including the financial markets, labour markets, the demands for the services and goods such as transportation, housing, social protection, intergenerational ties as well as the family structures (Harper 2014). In order to achieve the goals proposed in the 2030 Agenda for the sustainable development, it is important for the countries to prepare themselves for the economic as well as the social shifts related to ageing population (Walker and Maltby 2012).
According to the data from World population prospects, the number of older persons (60 years or above) will grow by 56 % between the year 2015 and 2030. By 2050 the aged population will be projected more than double its size in 2012. (Walker and Maltby 2012).
The average age of population in UK that was estimated in the middle of 2014 was that of 40, which was a record for the first time. It is also estimated that by 2040, nearly one among every seven people in UK is expected to be above 75.
The trend is partially influenced by the migration rates, which has a major effect on the UK population. According to the reports of the office for the Budget responsibility projects, the total spending of the public would increase from 33.6% to 37.8% of the GDP due to the aged population (Harper 2014). This change in the demography would affect the whole country. Growing in an old society where most of the people are young is quite different from that doing so in a society where most people are old. Population ageing in UK would increase the amount of ill health and disability in the population if no improvements are made (Lloyd-Sherlock et al.2012). Multi-morbidities, chronic illnesses will become more common. Families will experience more pressure die to the increased cost and to balance care with the other responsibilities. As the UK population will age so will the work force (Steptoe et al. 2012). The economic success and the productivity of the UK industries would be tied to the older workers. Adoption of new technologies would become cumbersome for the aged workforce as it would take time to adapt themselves to the new technologies (Lloyd-Sherlock et al.2012).
Training and learning would be of greater importance with the ageing population. Learning throughout the lifetime would be helping the person to participate in the labour market for a longer period of time (Spijker and MacInnes 2013). Suitable housing will be able to improve the life in the older age as unsuitable housing can lead to multiple costs and problems.
In 1905 the baby boys were expected to live for 45 years and the girls for 49 years, whereas, in 2012 the life expectancy of the boys has reached over 79 years and the girls to 83 years (Spijker and MacInnes 2013). The life expectancy of the healthy individuals is believed to increase at similar rates. It is also evident that the combination of the ageing people, who were born after the second world war and that of increasing life expectancy is increasing at much faster pace compared to that of the people age below 65. Due to the increasing aged population the number of deaths would also grow by 13 percent from about 462,000 to 520,000 by 2032 (Spijker and MacInnes 2013).
The example of Japan provides a good example of a non -European population whose rates of ageing have been quite different from that of the UK population. In 1950 the median age of the population of UK had been 34.6, where as in Japan the figure was 22.3% (Steptoe et al. 2012). There are certain factors behind this result for example the higher level of childlessness, postponement of child bearing and growing longevity.
Although the impact of the migration cannot be thoroughly understood, it would definitely increase the population size of UK. Arrival of the immigrants may lessen the rate of ageing population, as the migrants would be usually younger than the natives, which will be visible more with the ageing of the host population. Many commentators have highlighted the benefits of immigration over population ageing.
Lloyd-Sherlock et al. (2012) have validated the paucity of the research in to ageing within a multicultural community. Many ethnic minorities aged group in UK have shown higher risks of various chronic diseases like obesity and other metabolic complications. For example, The South Asian and the African Caribbean women in UK have higher risks of obesity, type 2-diabetes and hypertension. Furthermore, the data has been collected from the physical activity health survey of India, England, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is therefore evident that women and men within the region of England have less chance to meet up with the health requirements (Spijker and MacInnes 2013). Again, the ethnic minorities faces genetic, social, economic and environmental barrier to adopt sustainable lifestyle changes (Lloyd-Sherlock et al. 2012). This accounts to the relative higher rates of mortality and morbidity of those aged population. A growing older population leads to a great demand of health and care, but the public spending on the older population has fallen significantly over the past few decades.
The social care budget is set to increase over the past few years. The elder population requires fiscal and substantial changes in the Medicare schemes. There should be modern technologies that would be able to reduce their discomfort and repairs functions. Another aspect of care is the end of life care. There are very few people facing death who actually receive the intensive care, as many clinicians finds it to be futile to extend an old man’s life by providing with them end of life care. Based on the end of life care strategy in 2008 implemented by the National end of life care Program, there are special provisions for the end of life care (Care Quality Commission. 2012). In UK the health care services are provided by the National health services free at the point of delivery. The NHS provides primary care facilities, intermediate care, acute care in health care settings and long term care. Other services provided to the older people are sheltered housing. The Community care act 1990 was signed for arranging and funding the long term care in the nursing and the residential homes.
Informal care to the aged population refers to the home based care provided by any of the family members. A survey has confirmed the presence of fewer family members in the household leading to less informal care. The Studies have demonstrated that elderly people requires a heavier support system which normally is a family member, but many child carers of the elderly people are themselves elderly.
The growth of residential care for the older adults, containing housing facilities with a qualified nurse 24 hours on duty nurse, is another aspect of social care for the elderly population. There are sheltered housing options; day care centres (Bradshaw et al. 2012). The service of the day care centre includes that of daily meals. This provide the aged people the chance to interact and socialize with other peer groups that is not possible within the home in spite the family care. Older people are eligible for certain financial benefits to cover the cost of Health care (Brownie and Nancarrow 2013). There are provisions for liaison offices in getting help and advocacy to the older patients to get a fair and equal treatment. “Fully funded NHS care is available for the elderly population in or outside a hospital. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) must assess the individual before approving himher for the NHS continuing services (Care Quality Commission, 2012). In case of terminally ill patients the treatment can be made fast tracked. There are provisions for home care support or domiciliary support for the elderly people. There are policies and schemes for adults living with learning disabilities.
Disparity in the access to the health care services among the elderly has been documented well. The prime reason for this disparity is the lack of proper health insurance. Cost appears to be one of the major causes to link with the lack of access to care. Fragile older adults may not get access to these services due to lack of transportation or communication. They might not be fluent with the norms and regulation related to the health care (Steptoe et al. 2012).
Conclusion
Hence it can be said that the world population is ageing with time. Not only in United Kingdom, are almost all the countries experiencing growth in the number of the aged population due the increase in the life expectancy. UK government has introduced a number of schemes for and plans for addressing the needs of the elderly people which includes community care, residential care, day care and domiciliary care. In spite of all these, disparity exists in the provision of care in terms of health insurance. Barrier to health care may be transportation or extreme poor health conditions. There are lots of loops and gaps that has to be filled up to provide a comprehensive care to the elderly population
References
Bradshaw, S.A., Playford, E.D. and Riazi, A., 2012. Living well in care homes: a systematic review of qualitative studies. Age and ageing, 41(4), pp.429-440.
Brownie, S. and Nancarrow, S., 2013. Effects of person-centered care on residents and staff in aged-care facilities: a systematic review. Clinical interventions in Aging, 8, p.1.
Care Quality Commission, 2012. The state of health care and adult social care in England in 2011/12 (Vol. 763). The Stationery Office.
Harper, S., 2014. Ageing societies. Routledge.
Lloyd-Sherlock, P., McKee, M., Ebrahim, S., Gorman, M., Greengross, S., Prince, M., Pruchno, R., Gutman, G., Kirkwood, T., O’Neill, D. and Ferrucci, L., 2012. Population ageing and health. The Lancet, 379(9823), pp.1295-1296.
Rutherford, T. and Socio, A., 2012. Population ageing: statistics. House of Commons library (Standard not. Retrieved Jan 2, 2013, from: www. parliament. uk/topics/PopulationArchive.
Spijker, J. and MacInnes, J., 2013. Population ageing: the timebomb that isn’t. BMJ, 347(nov12 1), pp.f6598-f6598.
Steptoe, A., Breeze, E., Banks, J. and Nazroo, J., 2012. Cohort profile: the English longitudinal study of ageing. International journal of epidemiology, 42(6), pp.1640-1648.
Walker, A. and Maltby, T., 2012. Active ageing: A strategic policy solution to demographic ageing in the European Union. International Journal of Social Welfare, 21(s1).
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