Demography

Research shows that developing relationships between the older people and the young can be beneficial for the wellbeing of both parties. new draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), due to be finalised in November, says there is good evidence intergenerational activities improve health outcomes – and recommends all local authorities support and provide such schemes. Read more here.

Registration is now open for Dublin City University's inaugural International Age-Friendly Conference "Engaging Ageing - universities as engines of healthy and active ageing" which will take place November 2nd and 3rd at The Helix, DCU.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Jane Barratt, Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing.  Other speakers include Ann Sophie Parent CEO, AGE Platform and Hugh O'Connor CEO, Age Friendly Ireland.

A major Scotland-wide study of the health, economic and social circumstances of people aged 50-plus will enable future improvements to be made to their health and wellbeing. The University of Stirling-led Healthy Ageing In Scotland (HAGIS) study, launched July 2015, is the first in Scotland to follow individuals and households through time. There are currently two million people over 50 in Scotland, comprising 38 percent of the population. The £500,000 HAGIS study will capture a snapshot of the current circumstances of 1000 of them.

A consultation process on policy proposals to extend age discrimination legislation to the provision of goods, facilities and services in Northern Ireland was launched on 3 July 2015.  The consultation will run for 14 weeks until 8 October 2015 and the process will be supported by a series of regional consultation events which will take place in Belfast and in each county. More information on events and the ways to contribute to the consultation is available here.

One of the great advances of the last century is that nearly all of us will live longer and with less disability than recent generations, Des O'Neill writes in the Irish Times.

The experience of older people with the nursing home system over the past few decades provides a new idiom for an easy mark, consultant geriatrician, Dr Des O’Neill writes in the Irish Times. “As easy as taking money from frail older people and their families” may not trip off the tongue as smoothly, but it neatly catches their experience at the hands of State agencies and the lack of public outrage.