Healthy Ageing in Warwickshire

The Healthy Ageing in Warwickshire survey was developed to support the Healthy Ageing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) by understanding the experiences of growing older in Warwickshire. It did this by seeking to understand:

• what is important to people as they age.
• what people think of their local area as a place to grow older.
• experiences of access to health and care services.
• experiences of attitudes to ageing/older people.

The survey was targeted at those aged 60 or more, although responses were allowed from people of any age.

There were 440 responses to the survey. Below is a summary of key findings and messages relating to the 4 purpose statements above.

What is important to people as they age?

• The top three highest scoring items for staying ‘healthier and happier’ were:
  • Spending time with friends or family.
  • Staying physical active.
  • Being able to do things independently.

What people think of their local area as a place to grow older.

• Just over half of respondents rated their local area as either ‘excellent or good’ as a place to live. Around a third were neutral, with the rest being ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
• Respondents were most likely to agree that their local area met their needs for social participation, and least likely for local infrastructure, transport, and housing.

Experiences of access to health and care services.

• Most respondents agreed that they knew which health service to access and how to get in touch with them. They were least likely to agree that appointments were easy to travel to, could afford the cost of, or that services were ‘joined up’.
• While there was praise for the healthcare services received by some respondents, many expressed concerns about the process of making appointments, getting to them and communication between different parts of the health and care system.
• Fewer respondents had experienced care services. Overall, agreement scores were lower when compared to people’s experience of health services. Being able to comfortably meet the cost of care services was the least agreed with item.

Experiences of attitudes to ageing/older people.

• Respondents were most likely to think other older people held positive views about them, followed by middle aged people while younger people were thought to have the least positive views. However, several respondents expressed a desire to do more intergenerationally, especially with younger people.
• Community/faith groups were seen by respondents to hold the most positive views of older people when compared to other groups, with Employers and the media being perceived to hold the least positive views.

Cross cutting themes were evident from survey responses whether participants were being asked about their local area, experiences of health and care, services people would like to see, or their views on ageing in a healthier and happier way.

Transport and travel, access to health and social care, and wider support featured frequently. Additionally, issues relating to the design of local areas and infrastructure with older people in mind were evident.

While some welcomed new technology, others raised concerns about the risk of digital exclusion as more services and activities shift online.

A full engagement report can be accessed together with other supporting documents by clicking on the link below.
Healthy Ageing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) documents

• Themes and quotes from the survey have been included throughout the Healthy Ageing JSNA.
   
• The last chapter of the JSNA, “Recognising strengths and tackling discrimination”, was written based on feedback from the survey and other engagement activities.
   
• The feedback from the survey helped to inform and shape the recommendations set out in the JSNA, particularly:
  • Recommendation 2: We should explore options for Warwickshire to become an Age-Friendly Community, in line with World Health Organisation principles.
  • Recommendation 7: We need to continue work joining up services.
  • Recommendation 10: Organisations should consider signing up to the Age-friendly Employer pledge or otherwise review how ‘age-friendly’ they are for potential or current employees.
  • Recommendation 16: Services and commissioners should explore best practice to identify and support people who may be excluded, including via digital exclusion, and should ensure that impact assessments are routinely carried out when making changes to services to identify who might be disadvantaged and offer mitigations.
  • Recommendation 17: Everyone should be aware of the language and imagery they are using around ageing and older people.
  • Recommendation 18: We should consider intergenerational approaches when considering how to implement these recommendations.
  • Recommendation 20: Findings from the JSNA should be fed back to Housing and Transport colleagues and we should consider how we can continue to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of older people.
• Having been approved for publication by the Health and Wellbeing Board on 10^th January 2023, the Healthy Ageing JSNA, which includes the feedback from this survey, is now being shared and promoted with colleagues across the health and care sector to help inform decision making.

Click on this link for further information and to view the JSNA and related documents.

An action plan has been created around the recommendations from the JSNA, which the survey helped to inform, which is now being carried out.