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HOW IT'S DONE AILLEURS   "La parole est à vous! "Public consultation on seniors' living conditions: 'Are you concerned about seniors' living conditions? I invite you to express your point of view' (Marguerite Blais, Minister responsible for Seniors, Québec, Canada). "The public consultation will focus, in particular, on: the financial situation of seniors; recognition of the contribution and needs of informal caregivers; seniors' contribution to society; home support; public and private seniors' homes. Visit the consultation's Website www.consultationpublique-aines.gouv.qc.ca."

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the OLDER PEOPLE'S WEB news see also stop press news & opinion contribute to news items by telling the webmaster about them. www.olderpeoplesweb.org.uk is looking for volunteers to monitor named newspapers. news items will be kept here for at least a year, after which some will be transferred to the LINKS page. disclaimer

AGE DISCRIMINATION and AGEISM - see EQUALITIES BBC NEWS - see also OPINION and PENSIONS  - Courses click with silver surfers (Simon Atkinson, Business Reporter, BBC News, 22 September 2008) CABINET OFFICE: OFFICE OF THE THIRD SECTOR  - see THE THIRD SECTOR CARE & CARING - End of life care (Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office, 26 November 2008) Q&A: END OF LIFE CARE (BBC News, 26 November 2008) :"The National Audit Office (NAO) said services were not meeting the needs of people....   "too many people are ending their days in hospital when they want to be elsewhere - at home, in a care home or a hospice....   "The NAO pointed out that front-line staff lacked training, while funding for services varied enormously.   "There is also a lack of co-ordination between council-run social services and the NHS....   "Ministers published a strategy in the summer aimed at improving services.   "They promised nearly £300m of funding to help set up rapid response teams in the community who will respond to emergencies from those in the final stages of life. The NAO is not entirely convinced this will work, pointing out there is a lack of time-frames and commitment to support the NHS over this.... the NAO report was just concerned with services in England...."   See also Care "failing the terminally ill" (Nick Triggle, BBC News, 26 November 2008)  - End of life care (Department of Health, November 2008)  - Improving life care for adults - welcome to the national end of life care programme (NHS, 2008)  - Care home concern (The Times, 12 November 2008) "Elderly people in care homes will be the first to suffer from new rules to restrict jobs for workers from outside Europe, the head of the English Community Care Association has claimed. Martin Green said homes were likely to close and fees would rise as a result of a new list of jobs available to non-EU workers." - For all ages - Government must invest now to fight age discrimination in Britain (COUNSEL + CARE, 24 September 2008) - Click here to download the full press release  - Health and Social Care Bill 2007-08 "Summary of the Bill "The Bill seeks to enhance professional regulation and create a new integrated regulator, the Care Quality Commission, for health and adult social care, with focus on providing assurance about the safety and quality of care for patients and service users. "Key areas [excerpts]     Assures the safety and quality of care and creates a new regulator, the Care Quality Commission Equips the new regulator with tougher powers, backed by fines, to inspect, investigate and intervene where hospitals are failing to meet hygiene standards.... Creates an independent adjudicator to undertake independent and objective formal adjudication for the professional regulatory bodies Ensures that all healthcare organisations employing or contracting with doctors appoint a 'responsible officer' to work with the GMC to identify and handle cases of poor professional performance by doctors...". [excerpts and bold font in www.olderpeoplesweb.org.uk] DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (DCLG)  - Giving [sic] older and young people a stronger voice (from Communites in control: real people, real power, Department of Communities and Local Government, White Paper, 9 July 2008) from REPORT SUMMARY 35. It is important that older people can shape local services and in June 2008 the Government launched a review of older people’s engagement with government. from REPORT MAIN TEXT Empowering older people 4.64 In an ageing society it is particularly important that older people are actively involved in shaping local services. In June 2008 the Department of Work and Pensions launched a review of older people’s engagement with Government.70 This will examine the current arrangements for the engagement of older people and how these arrangements inform policy and actions of government at all levels. The review will report in the autumn. In addition, we will be refreshing our strategy for older people, Opportunity Age, over the coming months.71 Communities and Local Government’s recent 'Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods' strategy highlighted how we would empower older people to live independently in their own homes for longer, creating more choice and control for people over their lives.72 70 See www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmwms/archive/080522.htm#hddr_17 71 see www.dwp.gov.uk/opportunity_age/ 72 Communities and Local Government (2008) Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A National Strategy for housing in an ageing society. London: Communities and Local Government see DWP PSA 17  - see EQUALITIES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DoH) - see HEALTH and CARE & CARING  - Elderly put at risk by axing of 24-hour wardens (The Observer, 9 August 2009) DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS (DWP) -  - Independent review of older people's engagement with government (John Elbourne, final report, DWP, 18 November 2008) - "The Government’s response to John Elbourne’s final report will be announced by 30 January 2009" from Age Concern England and Help the Aged's response: “Help the Aged and Age Concern England strongly welcome the review....  “The voice of older citizens should be heard clearly whenever and wherever decisions are made which affect them: locally, regionally and nationally.  Services for older people are better when they are directly influenced by the people who receive them.  It is especially important that the voices of all older people are heard – including those who are often left out.  “We welcome the Report’s recognition of the value of helping older people to be active in their communities, because that is good for them and for their families and communities....  “The original [Better Government for Older People] partners’ shared aim has been securing a better deal for older people in the fields of health, income, social exclusion, housing and other public services. The proposed new approach will acknowledge and respect older people’s needs and preferences and build on the opportunities for engagement as identified in the Report.  “... both charities particularly welcome the proposal that the current Department for Work & Pensions engagement budget should be redeployed regionally through the Government Offices....  - review of older people's engagement with government - statement in the House of Commons: Older People (Engagement with Government): Mike O'Brien (Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions; North Warwickshire, Labour) | Hansard source I have asked John Elbourne, former chief executive, Prudential Assurance UK Operations to examine the current arrangements for the engagement of older people and the ability of those arrangements to inform policy and actions of Government at all levels. Specifically, this will include examining Better Government for Older People's: aims, structure and relationships; past achievements, lessons learned and best practice; lines of accountability, governance and reporting; and management arrangements, legal status and funding. He will explore options for improvement of engagement with older people in respect of the new Government performance framework and in relation to the roles of other organisations. He will then make recommendations to ensure that the findings of the review take full account of the expectations of older people, best support the independence and wellbeing of people in later life and ensure an effective and efficient process to serve these needs. (TheyWorkForYou.com, 22 May 2008)  - Public Service Agreement 17 – ‘Tackle poverty and promote greater independence and wellbeing in later life’: Public Service Agreements (PSAs) set out the key priority outcomes the Government wants to achieve in the next Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period 2008–2011. The Department for Work and Pensions leads on PSA 17 with major contributions from the Department of Health and Department for Communities and Local Government. It spans all policy and service areas and links closely to other PSAs notably Health, Care, Employment and Equalities. Local Authorities have a key role in contributing to the success of PSA 17 through Local Area Agreements. Other local partners, such as Primary Care Trusts and voluntary and community groups, also have a significant contribution to make in partnership with Local Authorities. PSA 17 brings together action across Government to tackle pensioner poverty and to ensure that we adapt to an ageing society by promoting greater independence and wellbeing in later life. The Public Service Agreement (PSA) 17 has five key indicators to assess progress over the three year Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period 2008–2011: the employment rate of those aged 50–69 and the difference between this and the overall employment rate the percentage of pensioners in low income healthy life expectancy at 65 satisfaction with home and neighbourhood among the over-65s the extent to which older people receive the support they need to live independently at home The PSA also outlines further reforms that the Government will take forward over the CSR period 2008–2011 to promote improvements in independence and well-being in later life, laying the foundations for adapting to an ageing society in the longer term. These include the pensions reforms set out in the Pensions White Paper 'Security in retirement: towards a new pension system'. Read the PSA Delivery Agreement for Later Life (this link will take you to the HM Treasury website) Read about the national indicators for local authorities and local authority partnerships – older people Good practice – a list of links to more information about designing services to meet the needs of local older people and see WORK and PENSIONS ENGAGEMENT AND EMPOWERMENT - Engagement and empowerment among older people in the South West of England: a case study (Evaluation Trust and South West Foundation, received May 2008): "about how Forums have developed in the South West, what sort of work they are doing and what kind of support they get" (Diane Aslett, Help the Aged) EQUALITIES  - Dame Joan Bakewell named 'voice of older people' (Government Equalities Unit [now Office], November 2008)  - Bakewell to champion the elderly (BBC News, 9 November 2008)  - Joan Bakewell to put a spring in the step of the elderly (Marie Woolf, The Sunday Times, 9 November 2008) "The broadcaster has a history of breaking prejudices. Now she is to be Britain's czar for the aged... recruited to scrutinise policy and ensure that it does not discriminate against the old. However, Bakewell has made it clear that she will not be content simply to comment on policies affecting her generation, but also wants to 'celebrate the achievements of older people' and help the middle-aged to prepare for decades of active living."  - See Help the Aged's Fighting Ageism campaign.  - Equality Bill documents and debates (Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association) HEALTH  - Pills & Perils, Repeat Prescribing for Older Patients (Eastleigh Southern Parishes Older People's Forum - Hampshire) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH  - The national end of life care programme (Department of Health, 9 July 2008): "The Programme builds on the work of the NHS End of Life Care Programme, which ran from 2004-07. This SHA-led programme was supported by £12m investment, and was established to deliver on the commitment in Building on the Best to enable people at the end of life to have more choice about where they can be cared for, and die. Further information on the NHS End of Life Care Programme can be found at: End of Life Care Programme." Supporting the choice to die at home (Marie Curie Cancer Care campaign) HELP THE AGED  - news page  - fOrum to FORUM KT-EQUAL - Putting ageing and disability research into practice  - funded by EPSRC. See http://tinyurl.com/dlqfy8. KT_EQUAL will carry on from the work of SPARC. VOLUNTEERING  - see VOLUNTEERING in the Older People's Web LINKS page contribute to NEWS by sending items or their URLs to the webmaster - he is seeking people to review particular newspapers on a daily basis and forward to him the titles of relevant articles or their URLs - please inform him about other NEWS websites/webpages to which this section should link

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the OLDER PEOPLE'S WEB questions & answers communications & requests for assistance contribute to questions & answers by writing to the webmaster disclaimer .

SURVEY RESULT ON LINGUISTIC BEHAVIOUR OF PEOPLE OVER 50 To the webmaster: (2 March 2009) In 2007 you put a link to an online questionnaire on your webpage. The questionnaire enabled me to gather data for my MA thesis in applied linguistics. Back then I promised to let you know about the results of my study. I have now put up a webpage summarizing the most interesting points about the theoretical background and the results of the study. I am sending you the link, so that any survey participants who might be interested can see the results. The page and the e-mail address will be online until 1st April. This is the link: http://www.uni-bonn.de/~efuchs55/ Kind regards, Elisabeth Fuchs   SIXTY-THREE YEAR OLD DONATES KIDNEY TO SEAL 50+ YEAR FRIENDSHIP 12 September 2008 Chris writes: Andrew has had a tough time for the last 5 years. First he lost his wife of 37 years to a sudden aneurism, and then grief and stress  brought on an acceleration in his lifetime kidney complaint. Suddenly he was facing years of dialysis. Self-employed, his future was bleak. Chris, a lifetime friend from school days, whilst chatting to him on the phone one day, and moved by the pain he could hear in his  friend's voice - almost just as a gesture of support - offered him one of his kidneys. "The odds of us being a match are neglible, but at least I can make the gesture," he thought. Six months, much thinking and discussion, and a battery of tests later the donation took place in Addenbrookes in Cambridge. Chris was back at work within four weeks and Andrew was back hitting golf balls with three months. In the UK we have an appalling low level of card-carrying potential donors - 5%. Of these, consent is withdrawn at the time of death by relatives in at least 40% of cases. This brings the figure down to 3%. Meanwhile, somebody, somewhere in the UK goes on the Transplant Register every 15 minutes. Daily, perfectly good organs - desperately needed organs - are either burned or buried, in many, many cases through ignorance or apathy. We read of schemes to breed special pigs to address the problem - when we have the solution very largely in our own hands. A few seconds work to register on a website and it's done. Chris's kidney donation to Andy came about as a result of a  2006 change in the Human Tissue Act, which now allows both totally altruistic and non-related donation. They are keen to promote awareness of the potential of the new Act and the huge advances made in this area by modern surgery. Within reason they are available to speak to interested groups.  Andy lives in Cambridge and Chris in Sussex. First contact should be to Chris at drygill1@btinternet.com. [Chris's name, address, etc. are known to the webmaster, who is acquainted with him.]

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