University of California researchers found that older people (such as The Hobbit's Gandalf) have slower brains but better patience and understanding.
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Out of Work Over 50s Forced to Release Equity from Homes as Number of Long Term Unemployed Pre-Retirees Reaches 15 Year High
An increasing number of unemployed over 50s are turning to ‘equity release plans’ to free up money from the value of their houses, rather than claim their pensions. Equity release plans allow homeowners in need of cash to ‘release’ some of the value of their property. Evidence suggests that the average out of work 50-something is drawing £55,000 from their home. Interest is charged on the amount taken out and is repayable on death or when the home is sold. According to research by financial advisers, Key Retirement Solutions, a fifth of all equity release plans taken out in the…
Changing of the Board
Our Chairman James Wright retires at the end of this month. Age Scotland CEO tells us more. James has made a huge contribution to the charity over many years, particularly during the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged, … Continue reading →
Funding Opportunity: High Priority Behaviour and Social Research Networks
High Priority Behaviour and Social Research Networks
UK-US collaborative funding
The BBSRC have announced they will contribute to the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and ESRC joint call for networks.
Background
This call for funding will provide infrastructure support for advancing the development of interdisciplinary areas of biological, behavioural and social research of relevance to ageing. Ageing-relevant research is that which addresses issues of importance to the wellbeing and health of either mid-life or older adults, and can include data spanning the entire life course.
The infrastructure support will facilitate research networks through meetings, conferences, small scale pilots, training, and dissemination so that they can develop to the point where work in this area can be supported through standard research funding mechanisms. Development of research networks is critical to advance the science in high priority emerging areas, where integration across studies, disciplines and institutions is required.
Celebrate National Older People's Day in St Albans
Older people in St Albans are invited to celebrate Older People's Day in the city next month.
Carers wanted for Which? research
Which? is looking for carers to take part in some research into living with a serious illness.
They would like to talk to:
- people who have been diagnosed with a long term, serious or life threatening illness;
- the families and/or carers of people who have been diagnosed with a long term, serious or life threatening illness; and
- people who have been bereaved in the past two years.
Which? wants to understand the consumer issues and extra costs that people in this position may face (e.g. higher fuel bills and legal fees). They'd also like to know if people with a serious condition feel they have the support and the information they need to make the right choices – for example when buying goods and services. They are also interested in how well supported people feel when dealing with end of life issues like wills and probate.
We will be making the findings from this research freely available to the public to help develop a better understanding of peoples' needs in this vulnerable time.
Contact Phillida Cheetham 0207 770 7201 or email phillida.cheetham@which.co.uk to find out more or visit http://www.which.co.uk/help/living-with-a-serious-illness
Northern Ireland’s carers suffering due to lack of support
New Carers Week research finds most people unprepared for their caring role
- 84% said they were not aware of the support available
- 62% of carers have experienced depression
- 89% of carers say they feel more stressed because of their caring role
New research from a Carers Week survey of over 2,100 carers has revealed that carers are being woefully let down by a lack of support when they first take on a caring role. The findings from the report, Prepared to Care? show that support is not being made available to new carers with often devastating consequences.
Released to coincide with the launch of Carers Week 2013, the findings show that 79% of carers were unprepared for all aspects of caring. A further 84% of carers say they were not aware of the support available and 31% believe they were given the wrong advice about the support on offer.
With around 214,000 carers in Northern Ireland1 (6.5 million in the UK) and 69,000 people taking on a new caring role every year2, the charities within the Carers Week partnership are calling for the government, GPs and health and social care professionals to ensure that more support is given to carers from day one of their caring role.
The research goes on to outline the huge emotional, physical and financial effects that caring can have as people are not prepared for the impact of their caring role.
Impact of caring
The survey shows that carers often struggle to balance work and their caring responsibilities, with 41% of carers saying they had to give up work.
The results also highlight how carers' physical, emotional and mental wellbeing can suffer. 62% of carers have experienced depression and nearly all carers surveyed (88%) say they feel more stressed because of their caring role.
The survey also emphasised the strain that caring can put on people's relationships. 51% of respondents have experienced difficulties in their relationship with their partner and 62% have found it difficult to maintain friendships.
Helen Ferguson, Director of Carers Northern Ireland, commented: "The impact of caring for a family member or friend is an issue that we simply cannot ignore. Population changes, and proposed reforms to health & social care, mean that supporting carers is more vital than ever before. Every single day in Northern Ireland, nearly 200 people take on new caring responsibilities and too often they face the challenges of caring without support. Becoming a carer can happen overnight and without information and guidance, carers can be left feeling isolated and alone.
"The figures clearly show that carers aren't being offered support and if they are, it can often be wrong or not the full information. The consequences for carers are huge, so it's vital that GPs, health and social care professionals and the government all play a role to ensure that carers are offered the support they deserve from day one."
Esme Charles, who looks after her husband Denis explains her experience as an older carer:
"I think most people aren't prepared for the caring role they take on. Despite helping my husband for 40 years, it didn't strike me until very recently that I had become his carer. I gave up work to look after Denis and we managed as best we could until we hit a crisis point and didn't know how to get help. Thankfully a friend pointed us in the right direction. As I get older though, caring is taking a toll on me physically, emotionally and mentally, and it's difficult to get the time I need to myself. You learn about caring as you go along but more information and training early on would have helped me be better prepared for what was to come."
Sinead Challinor, who looks after her husband John who has MS said:
"When John was diagnosed with MS, aged 30, it was a complete shock, tainted with a
little relief that his ongoing illness was not immediately life threatening. As a young couple starting out in life we were focused on getting married, securing a home and starting a family. Preparing for a long-term progressive illness was not on our radar. Like many I naively believed all the medical assistance and support required would simply be made available to John as and when he needed it. Unfortunately that has proven not to be the case."
Carers flagged as part of the survey that they would have benefitted from better support and information from day one. As part of the report, Prepared to Care? carers stated what would have made a difference to their experience , they included:
1. Better public understanding and recognition of carers
2. Access to information and the right support from the beginning
3. Professionals understanding the role of carers and sharing information, decision making and planning with them.
4. Access to high quality practical and emotional support and information as well as breaks from caring
5. Flexible working practices and understanding from employers
6. Financial support and a fair and easy to navigate welfare system
Carers Week in Northern Ireland is delivered by a partnership of national charities – Age NI, Carers Trust, Carers Northern Ireland, Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, MS Society, Parkinson's UK and supported by the Stroke Association and Bupa's Carewell. In 2013 it is sponsored by Sainsbury's Plc and the sector skills council in England, Skills for Care.
Keep up to date with campaign developments at www.carersweek.org www.facebook.com/carersweek Twitter @carersweek
- ENDS -
For media enquiries, interview requests and case study requests, please contact John McCormick on 028 9043 9843 or email john.mccormick@carersni.org
Downoad a copy of the report, Prepared to Care? below
12011 Census figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland including projected figure from Valuing Carers 2011 for Scotland
2Carers UK (2006) In the Know. The importance of information for carers
Carers Week surveyed 2,115 carers between March and May 2013.
Notes for editors:
1. Carers Week in Northern Ireland is delivered by a partnership of national charities – Age NI, Carers Trust, Carers Northern Ireland, Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, MS Society, Parkinson's UK and supported by the Stroke Association and Bupa's Carewell. In 2013 it is sponsored by Sainsbury's Plc and the sector skills council in England, Skills for Care.
2. Carers Week takes place to recognise and celebrate the UK's 6.5 million carers and encourage them to access the support, advice and information they need that can help improve their lives and the people they care for.
3. Over 2,300 organisations take part in Carers Week, including local charities and voluntary organisations, hospitals, hospices and care homes and a growing number of employers.
Britain's biggest mobility scooter maker slammed for price fixing
The elderly were ripped off by Britain's biggest mobility scooter manufacturer for nearly two years in an online price fixing scam, regulators alleged yesterday.
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Trajectories of social activities from middle age to old age and late-life disability: a 36-year follow-up
Objectives: to examine the association between 34-year trajectories of social activity, from middle age to old age and late-life disability.
Methods: data from the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and the Swedish Panel Study of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) were used. LNU data from 1968, 1981, 1991 and 2000 were merged with SWEOLD data from 1992, 2002 and 2004 to create a longitudinal data set with five observation periods. Trajectories of social activities covered 1968–2002, and late-life disability was measured in 2004. The sample consisted of 729 individuals aged 33–61 at baseline (1968), who participated in at least four observation periods and who were free from mobility limitations at baseline. Four trajectories of social activity were identified and used as predictors of late-life disability.
Results: reporting low/medium levels of social activity from mid-life to old age was the most common trajectory group. Persons reporting continuously low/medium or decreasing levels of social activity had higher odds ratios for late-life disability (OR = 2.33 and OR = 2.15, respectively) compared with those having continuously high levels of activity, even when adjusting for age, sex and mobility limitations, and excluding persons with baseline mobility limitations.
Conclusions: results suggest that the disability risk associated with social activities is related to recent levels of activity, but also that risk may accumulate over time, as indicated by the higher disability risk associated with the continuously low/medium level social activity trajectory.
Development and validation of a delirium predictive score in older people
Background: delirium is frequently under diagnosed in older hospitalised patients. Predictive models have not been widely incorporated in clinical practice.
Objective: to develop and validate a predictive score for incident delirium.
Design and setting: two consecutive observational prospective cohorts (development and validation) in a university affiliated hospital.
Subjects: inpatients 65 years and older.
Methods: in the development cohort patients were assessed within the first 48 h of admission, and every 48 h thereafter, using the confusion assessment method to diagnose delirium and data were collected on comorbidity, illness severity, functional status and laboratory. Delirium predictive score (DPS) was constructed in the development cohort using variables associated with incident delirium in the multivariate analysis (P< 0.05), and then tested in a validation cohort of comparable patients, admitted without delirium. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and likelihood ratio (LR) were calculated.
Results: the development cohort included 374 patients, incident delirium occurred in 25. After multivariate analysis incident delirium was independently associated with lower functional status (Barthel Index) and a proxy for dehydration (elevated urea to creatinine ratio). Using these variables, DPS was constructed with a performance in the ROC curve area of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.82–0.91) and (–) LR = 0.16 and (+) LR = 3.4. The validation cohort included 104 patients and the performance of the score was ROC 0.78 (95% CI: 0.66–0.90).
Conclusions: This simple predictive model highlights functional status and a proxy for dehydration as a useful tool for identifying older patients that may benefit from close monitoring and preventive care for early diagnosis of delirium.
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