Healthy ageing: how health inequality can be tackled at the local level

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Rebecca Jackson

Image: Peter Kindersley via Centre for Ageing Better

Older people make up a significant portion of our population, and projections show the proportion of people over the age of 60 within the global population is set to rise even further over the coming years. ONS data shows by 2066 there will be a further 8.6 million projected UK residents aged 65 years and over, taking the total number in this group to 20.4 million and making up 26% of the total population.

Supporting people to age well, and age healthily is something which both local and national policymakers will have to take account of in order to not only ensure good quality of life for their ageing populations but also ensure that services are not overwhelmed.

Studies show the higher levels of deprivation people face in their earlier years, the more likely they are to enter older age in poor health and die younger compared with people who experience lower levels of deprivation. This highlights the need to tackle inequality across the life course, with the preventative action having a positive knock on impact on health inequalities in later life.

Some of the main drivers of inequalities include: social exclusion and isolation; access to and awareness of health and other community services; financial difficulties including fuel poverty and housing issues; insecure or low paid employment, with reduced opportunity to save or enrol in a formal pension to prepare for retirement; a lack of transport and distance from services; low levels of physical activity; and mobility or existing poor health, often characterised by long term chronic health issues.

These inequalities often combine and overlap to create even more challenging situations as people move into older life. More recent research has shown that the Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these inequalities further.

Tackling inequalities at the local level

Alongside the national discussions around ageing, local demographic change has received comparatively less attention, despite place-based policies and concepts like “ageing well in place” being used in public health conversations for a number of years.

Research from the Resolution Foundation explores the intersection between demography and place, and its implications for politics and policy while further research is looking increasingly at local level case studies to highlight pockets of best practice which could help to inform the national approach.

A review from Public Health England looked at the specific experiences of older people in coastal and rural areas and the specific challenges they face in comparison to people living urban areas, exploring local level interventions and interventions which adopt a place- based approach, responding to the specific needs of people living in the area.

Other research in this area stresses that councils have a clear leadership role in supporting an ageing society and that they are uniquely placed to create strategies which reflect the needs of their populations. Through local engagement of older people systematically and regularly, and through co-production and co-design in the production of local policies and services, councils are in a position to underpin a more positive outlook on ageing, ensuring that older people are regarded as full citizens, rather than objects of charity or pity.

Approaches to poverty reduction in Greater Manchester

In Greater Manchester, healthy ageing and age inequalities have been made mayoral priorities and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority set up the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub to respond to what policymakers there see as the opportunities and challenges of an ageing population.

In 2018 the city published an “Age Friendly Strategy” to promote increased social inclusion within the city by trying to tackle the barriers to inclusion created by poverty and inequality, including creating age friendly places which allow older people to participate within their local communities, and promoting healthy ageing through strategies like GM Active Ageing, a partnership with Sport England.

Creating a consensus on healthy ageing

The Centre for Ageing Better and Public Health England established 5 principles for healthy ageing which they are urging government and other policy actors to adopt to support future healthy ageing the five principles are:

Prevention
Opportunities
Good homes and neighbourhoods
Narrowing inequalities
Tackling ageism

These principles can be used as building blocks to help organisations create strategies and policies which accurately reflect the core needs of people as they age. One thing which continues to be a challenge, however, is integrating intersectionality into both research and strategies or frameworks on ageing.

Not treating “older people” as one homogenous group, but taking account of the individual experiences of specific groups and how this may impact on their experience of inequalities: this is something researchers are making efforts to resolve in their work, and while there are limited studies which look specifically at BAME or LGBT groups, in the future taking account of intersectionality in ageing and inequalities will become more commonplace.

The future of ageing

We are living longer than ever before. Taking steps to reduce inequalities and support healthy ageing will ensure that those extra years are fulfilling, both for the individual and for society.

Helping people to continue to contribute to society, to really live into old age, embrace and enjoy it – and not just exist – in old age should be a priority for everyone, Reducing inequalities to support people to age well will be a major contributor to ensuring this happens.

If you enjoyed this article you might like to read:

A home for life? Developing lifetime neighbourhoods to support ageing well in place

“Same storm, different boats”: addressing covid-19 inequalities and the ‘long term challenge’

Inclusive streets: from low expectations to big dreams

Virtual knowledge: recent webinars on public and social policy

Posted on August 31, 2020 by jamescarson2014

Earlier in the summer, we shared some of the information our Research Officers had picked up while joining webinars on public and social policy.

Since then, we’ve taken part in more of these virtual seminars, and in today’s blog we’re providing an overview of the wide range of topics covered.

Low traffic neighbourhoods

Earlier this month, Project Centre, which specialises in public realm regeneration and sustainability, organised a webinar on the challenges of implementing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) are a group of residential streets where through traffic is removed or discouraged, and any remaining traffic must operate at a pedestrian pace. The focus is not only to reduce congestion and improve safety by getting traffic back onto main arterial road networks, but also to provide environmental benefits, improve public health, community cohesion and encourage people to spend more, quality time in the areas where they live by making places “liveable”.

This webinar looked at the design and implementation of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, with guest speakers from two local authority areas (Waltham Forest and the Liverpool City Region), as well as designers from Project Centre who support the implementation of Low Traffic Neighbourhood Schemes. The speakers discussed their own experiences designing and implementing low traffic neighbourhoods and shared potential lessons for those looking to implement their own scheme.

The speakers all emphasised some key elements to effective design and implementation of LTNs they included:

LTNs are not just about transport, they can have health and wellbeing, community cohesion and crime reduction and economic impacts for local businesses as people are encouraged and enabled to shop more safely in their local areas.
schemes should be done with communities, not to them
LTNs should be designed with everyone in mind to bring pedestrians and cyclists “on par” with cars in terms of the use of street space
effective data and evaluation can help build a case for wider roll outs.

The new long life: a framework for flourishing in a changing world

This webinar was delivered by the International Longevity Centre (ILC) and included a number of speakers from a range of backgrounds who came together to discuss the impact of longevity and ageing on our engagement with work and the labour market, particularly in relation to digital technology and the changing nature of work post COVID-19. Speakers included Prof. Andrew Scott, Caroline Waters, Jodi Starkman, Stefan Stern, Lily Parsey and George MacGinnis.

Many of the speakers highlighted the difference between the ageing agenda and the longevity agenda, explaining that while many of us will live and work for longer than ever before, the nature of work and the stages of life are changing in a way that for many will be unrecognisable as the “traditional life journey”.

They stressed the need to move away from “traditional linear thinking” about how we age, with education at the start, mid-life being punctuated by work and potentially parenthood, then retirement, and that ageing in the future will be full of more “life stages” and more mini cycles where career breaks, learning and other life “punctuations” will take place at different times of life. It was suggested that the nature of work will change so much that re-learning and at times re-training will be a necessity at multiple points in life, and not just by those who change career deliberately.

Ageing well must, according to speakers, remain high on the policy agenda of future governments to ensure that the growing population of older people can live lives that are enjoyable, purposeful and productive and can contribute to wider society well into what would currently be considered “old age”.

Clearing the air

This has been a year like no other. But while attention has rightly focused on the number of Covid-19 fatalities – more than 800,000 worldwide – there is another hidden killer which has been responsible for more deaths than coronavirus, HIV and malaria combined. Research has found that air pollution caused an extra 8.8 million deaths around the world in 2015.

We’ve written before about efforts to improve air quality, and in July a webinar organised by Catapult Connected Places looked at further innovative ways to understand and tackle air pollution across the globe.

Eloise Marais, an Associate Professor in Physical Geography at UCL talked about TRACE – the Tool for Recording and Assessing the City Environment – that she is developing using satellite observations of atmospheric composition. Satellites offer more complete and consistent coverage than surface monitors, and satellites can also monitor many air pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter.

But while satellites have a long and well sustained record of recording data – some have been in space for more than a decade – their measurements have limitations in terms of spatial resolution. At the moment, these can only cover city-wide air quality, rather than providing postal code measurements. Eloise explained that, while satellite data has been used to show that air quality improvement policies have been effective in London as a whole, they cannot yet confirm that in some parts of the city pollution levels are not falling. Even so, Eloise noted that spatial resolution is improving.

Later in the webinar, Bob Burgoyne, Market Intelligence Team Lead at Connected Places Catapult talked about the Innovating for Clean Air India Programme. India is home to 14 of the world’s most polluted cities. One of these, the city of Bangalore is especially badly affected, and Bob described a project which aims to improve the city’s air quality and enable a transition to electric vehicles. The Catapult network has been working with academic and professional bodies, and with small and medium sized enterprises in India to measure and demonstrate the impact of pedestrianizing a major street in Bangalore on Sundays. The long term goal is to permanently pedestrianise the street, and to demonstrate active and electric mobility solutions.

Back on track: London’s transport recovery

This webinar, organised by the Centre for London, discussed the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on London’s transport systems and explored the impact of changes to Londoners’ travel habits on the actions required for recovery.

The event included contributions from Rob Whitehead, Director of Strategic Projects at Centre for London, Cllr Sophie McGeevor, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport at London Borough of Lewisham, and Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer and Director of Strategy at Transport for London.

A major concern raised by speakers was that current trends indicate that car usage is returning to normal levels faster than any other form of transport. Public transport, such as bus and tube, is slowly recovering but its usage is often linked to changes to lockdown restrictions, with surges in use as restrictions are lifted that very quickly level off. Additionally, although it appears that active transport use has increased, this increase tends to be at weekends and is more apparent in outer London.

As a result of these trends, there is a serious concern that levels of traffic in London may exceed the levels experienced prior to the lockdown. Currently, road traffic is at roughly 90% of normal levels, if this rises to 110%, the resulting congestion will result in gridlock and could have major implications for London’s economy.

How should we use grey literature?

This webinar was organised by the CILIP Health Libraries Group, for CILIP members to learn about and discuss how grey literature is used by libraries, and the benefits and challenges of making use of such content.

The main talk was delivered by two members of the library team from the King’s Fund – Deena Maggs and Kathy Johnson – who emphasised the importance of grey literature as a means of delivering timely and up to date information to users, particularly in the context of health and social care policy, where information needs tend to be very immediate.

The session involved discussions about the usefulness of grey literature in terms of Covid-19 recovery planning, as well as the challenge of determining the credibility of content which is not peer reviewed or commercially published.

The speakers gave practical advice around selecting and evaluating such sources, and highlighted the broadening range of ‘grey’ content that libraries can make use of, such as audio recordings, blog posts, and Tweets.

Follow us on Twitter to see which topics are interesting our research team.

Going grey behind bars: meeting the care needs of older people in prisons

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Rebecca Jackson

The population is ageing. People are living longer, and are in need of greater levels of care than ever before. But how is this increase in life expectancy and demand for care being met in prisons? Our prison population is also ageing, at a time when the sector is under increasing pressure, low staff numbers, higher levels of prison violence and disorder, and poor, crowded living conditions. In an environment which is largely designed to support young, able bodied men, how are prison staff and care teams liaising to help meet the needs of older prisoners?

A care plan for ageing prisoners

A report published in 2017 by the Scottish Prison Service called for a specific care plan for ageing prisoners to react to and provide planning to reflect the change in demographic of the prison population. The report found that between 2010 and 2016, the number of men aged over 50 in Scotland’s prison population rose by more than 60%, from 603 to 988. According to a Ministry of Justice report on prison population, the number of inmates aged over 50 is projected to grow from 12,700 to 13,900 by the end of June 2020, a rise of 9.5%, while the number of over-60s behind bars will grow by 20% from 4,500 to 5,400 over the same period.

In July 2017 Prisons and Probation Ombudsman produced the Thematic Review: Older Prisoners, which stated that HM Prison and Probation Service needs a national strategy to address the needs of the increasing numbers of elderly prisoners. It highlighted six areas where lessons still needed to be learned: healthcare and diagnosis, restraints, end-of-life care, family involvement, early release and dementia, and complex needs.

The difficulties older prisoners face on prison estates are far reaching. Not only are there physical barriers to moving around and living within a prison environment, but the increased mental health and social care burden is significant, as well as the potential need to begin end-of-life care. Many prison inmates suffer from multiple, longstanding and complex conditions, including addiction, and these conditions are exacerbated by a phenomenon known as “accelerated ageing”, which suggests that prisoners age on average 10 years faster than people of the same age in the wider community.

While some prisons have effective care plans which allow older prisoners to live with dignity, often older prisoners rely on the goodwill of officers and fellow inmates to meet the gaps in their care needs. And while in England and Wales the Care Act means that, a statutory requirement to provide care lies with the local authority within which the prison is located, this is not a guarantee. Calls have been made for care planning in prisons to become more robust, with minimum standards of care and a clear pathway of delivery, with accountability and responsibility of specific bodies being made explicit.

Prison staff, care teams and the NHS in partnership

Any care planning for older people needs input from a number of different sources, and care planning for older people in prison is no different. It will require input from professionals across health, social care, and housing and the criminal justice system as well as wider coordination support and legislative and financial backing from central and local government.

Prisoners with physical disabilities or diseases such as dementia need specialist care at a level that standard prison officers cannot give. Research has suggested that prison staff are being expected to shoulder this extra burden, often having to perform beyond their duty to care for and look for signs of degeneration in prisoners, particularly those who show signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

A number of research studies have looked at the provision of training and the use of additional, multi-agency staff to try to bridge the gap in care for elderly prisoners. In 2013 a review was conducted of multiple prisons, including some in England, the USA and Japan, which examined the training available on each estate for prisoners with dementia and similar conditions.

A number of schemes have been trialled, including extra training for staff, the allocation of specific wings or cells adapted to cater to the specific needs of older and vulnerable prisoners, and the use of peer to peer buddying or befriending services to help with care and support. Some prisons have also trialled the introduction of “dementia champions” to identify and support those with early signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

Extra challenges on release

As well as social care needs inside prison, specific rehabilitative needs of older prisoners being released from prison is also something that prison charities and reform bodies are keen to raise onto the agenda. A report from the Prison Reform Trust in 2016 highlighted the challenges of rehabilitative and parole needs of older prisoners, commenting that older people released from prison are being “set up to fail” by a lack of adequate provision to meet their health and social care needs on release. It highlights the limited and inconsistent housing, employment, debt and substance abuse advice available specifically for older offenders and suggest that their particularly vulnerable position puts them at risk of serious harm or reoffending.

Final thoughts

The population of older prisoners in our prisons is growing, and it is clear that a comprehensive strategy is needed to ensure that the specific, and at times unique care needs of these prisoners are met. This will mean greater cooperation from social care, health and criminal justice agencies, but will also mean reassessing how we think about social care, how it should be delivered and funded. The needs of older prisoners go beyond physical adaptations, to mental health, dealing with social isolation, the onset of chronic illnesses and at times the provision and planning of end of life care.

Follow us on Twitter to see what developments are interesting our research team.

If you enjoyed this blog, you may also be interested in our other articles:

Helping people with dementia to live well through good urban design

Planning for an ageing population: some key considerations

Co-production in the criminal justice system

Planning for an ageing population: designing age-friendly environments

Posted on December 9, 2016 by donnagardiner

In the UK, increased life expectancy means that people can expect to live longer than ever before. While this is clearly good news – and has a number of potential economic benefits – the shift in demographic structure towards an increasingly elderly population has a number of significant implications.

Following Wednesday’s blog post on the implications for planning of the ageing society, today we highlight some of the ways in which planners can help support the creation of age-friendly environments by influencing the design of the urban environment, transport, housing and the wider community and neighbourhood.

The importance of an age-friendly environment

Age-friendly environments are underpinned by three key factors:

Safety
Accessibility
Mobility

Such environments impact positively upon the quality of life of older people by enabling and encouraging physical activity and social connection. This in turn has a beneficial impact upon their physical and mental health, and helps to tackle social exclusion – which can be a particular problem among older people.

Conversely, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) notes, poor design can have a negative impact:

“older people who live in an unsafe environment or areas with multiple physical barriers are less likely to get out and therefore more prone to isolation, depression, reduced fitness and increased mobility problems”

Creating an age-friendly environment

There are a number of areas in which planners may have an influence on the provision of age friendly environments:

the design of the urban environment
supporting appropriate transport options
the provision of age-appropriate housing
adequate neighbourhood and community facilities

Urban environment

In terms of the urban environment, green spaces are an integral aspect of age friendly environments. Access to green spaces supports the physical activity of older people, makes a positive contribution to their health and wellbeing, and provides opportunities for social interaction.

Research has found that green spaces that are poorly maintained, perceived as unsafe, or contain potential hazards resulting from the shared use of parks and walkways are less likely to be used by older people. Suggestions for improvement include the creation of small, quieter, contained green spaces and improved park maintenance.

Paths, streets and pedestrian areas are also a key planning consideration. Older people have greater reliance on pedestrian travel and are more likely to be physically active in areas that are pedestrian friendly. The perception of safety also influences use – therefore, lighting and road safety measures can help to enhance this.

Adequate public toilet provision will also become an increasingly important issue. Recent cutbacks have resulted in many public toilets being closed – in their review of public toilet provision in the UK Help the Aged noted that provision was sporadic. They found that the majority of older people had experienced difficulties in finding a public toilet, and even when toilets were found, they were often closed.

Transport needs

Responding to the transport needs of different groups will also present a key challenge. For example, an analysis of major European cities by the Arup engineering consultancy found that older people typically make fewer journeys, use private cars less, public transport more (trams and buses in particular) and walk more. In addition to this, older people’s typical walking speed – as well as the average length of walking trips – were lower than younger people’s patterns. These differences must be considered when designing age-friendly environments.

The growing population of older people in rural and semi-rural areas, and the reliance on cars in areas with limited public transport options were also identified by Arup as important issues.

Age-appropriate housing

There will be increased demand for age-appropriate housing that meets the needs of older people as the population ages. People are likely to have longer periods of retirement and possibly longer periods of ill-health. As noted by the Future of an Ageing Population Project, unsuitable housing can damage individual wellbeing and increase costs for the NHS.

In order to meet demand, it will be necessary to both adapt existing housing stock, as well as ensure that new housing can adapt to people’s changing needs as they age. Age-appropriate housing that supports independent living can reduce demand on health and care services, and positively enhance the lives of older people.

Thinking ‘beyond the building’

There is also a need to think ‘beyond the building’. It is thought that interventions that improve homes are likely to be less effective without similar improvements in the neighbourhood. The ability to socialise and to access services is considered to be particularly important.

Therefore, planning for the provision of local shops and other community facilities such as GP surgeries, post offices and libraries, in tandem with an increased focus on walkable neighbourhoods and public transport provision, will help older people to be physically active and more independent.

Raising awareness

Despite a pressing need for action, the provision of age friendly infrastructure in the UK has been constrained by a lack of resources, and assigned a relatively low priority. However, there is growing recognition of the need to raise awareness of the potential effects of the ageing population and its implications for the design of cities, towns and villages across the UK.

Planning departments cannot address these implications in isolation. However, for their part, knowing and understanding the potential implications of the UK’s ageing population is a positive step towards the creation of a successful age-friendly built environment.

For further information, you may be interested in our other blog posts on the creation of age-friendly towns and cities and the economic opportunities presented by an ageing society.

We have also published two members-only briefings on Ageing, transport and mobility and Meeting the housing needs of older people.

(Older) people power: the economic opportunities of an ageing society

Posted on October 1, 2015 by jamescarson2014

Photo: AAG via Creative Commons

By James Carson

Responding to a recent Ask-a-Researcher request for information about Britain’s ageing population, I found that an online search generated a discouraging set of headlines:

“Ageing UK population will increase strain on public spending”

“UK faces ‘debt timebomb’ from ageing population”

“UK woefully underprepared for ageing society”

Further down the list was something more positive:

“Britain’s retiring workers have never had it so good. As well as being among the last workers to benefit from generous final salary pensions, many older people have housing wealth, having got on to the property ladder long before the boom that has priced out many younger buyers. And thanks to new pension freedoms, which came into force in April, the over-55s can now withdraw money from their pension funds.”

If anything, this article from The Guardian was a little too upbeat – there was no mention of the tens of thousands of older people enduring fuel poverty.

But the story does highlight the growing market which older consumers represent for products and services.

The demographic trends

In many developed countries, ageing populations are being driven by two demographic trends: a declining birth rate due to women having fewer children than in previous generations; and increasing numbers of people living longer, thanks to improvements in diet and medicine.

The global population aged 60 or over is projected to more than triple by 2050, reaching approximately 2 billion people. In the UK, the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to increase from 10.3 million in 2010 to 16.9 million by 2035.

Harnessing the economic opportunities from an ageing population

Surveys of household income and expenditure have reported that older people devote a greater proportion of their total expenditure to necessities, such as food and drink, housing, fuel and power. Luxury items related to recreation and culture are also areas of significant expenditure for older households.

With the abolition of the default retirement age, many older people are continuing to lead productive working lives, and have financial security. The STUC recently published a report highlighting the potential economic contribution of women over 50 to the economy, although noting that they are often ignored in labour market and economic policy.

In 2011, a report for the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) suggested that harnessing the spend of older people will be increasingly important for both the private and public sectors.

The research pointed to ways in which an ageing society might affect the economy:

Changes in housing needs may provide opportunities for developers and the construction industry to explore new types of housing provision to support older people.
Retired people, such as former business managers, may be interested in setting up their own business, or investing in local enterprises.
More retired people may become interested in playing a wider role in the community through voluntary work, something that may become even more important as public services are cut back.
Older people will also be increasingly important to the labour market, and there are opportunities to explore how their experience and skills can be best used.

Earlier this year, a report from the International Longevity Centre-UK also highlighted the importance of design and technology in responding to the needs of older people, and outlined what needs to happen in order for new technologies to live up to their full potential. Among the recommendations:

Ensuring homes meet lifetime homes standards and neighbourhoods adopt age friendly guidelines.
Tackling digital exclusion to ensure older people maximise the benefits of new technology.
Providing more evidence on what works to help designers, marketers and retailers understand the potential economic return of targeting older consumers.

The report provided some examples of innovative technologies that could make a significant difference to the lives of older people, including:

a kettle which monitors blood pressure;
lights which adapt to the level of daylight in a room;
driverless cars;
a secure platform enabling the management of bank accounts, bills and pensions through one simple portal.

The ageing population presents challenges for government, business and society in general. However, growth in this section of the population also brings with it emerging economic opportunities. That’s something worth remembering on this International Day of Older Persons.

Follow us on Twitter to see what developments in public and social policy are interesting our research team.

Enjoy this article? Read our other recent blogs on policy relating to older people:

Shedding light on a serious issue: how Men’s Sheds are tackling social exclusion

Posted on April 15, 2015 by staceydingwall

Image by Mosman Council via Creative Commons

by Stacey Dingwall

Promoting awareness of health and social issues among men, and particularly older men, has always been a tricky challenge. According to research, the longstanding stereotype of men who actively avoid visiting the doctor is true: significant numbers of older men may be experiencing loneliness and isolation due to their reluctance to join clubs for older people, a fact which may explain why suicide rates are higher among middle-aged and older (white) men.

One initiative that has tried to tackle this issue is the Men’s Sheds movement, which originated in Australia in the 1990s after concerns were raised over the lack of opportunities for older men to socialise and discuss any issues they were having with their peers. This led to the emergence of numerous Men’s Sheds across the country, in the form of workshops where men could come together to engage in traditional shed-orientated activities such as woodwork, as well as form new social connections and access health information.

The benefits of Men’s Sheds

Evaluations of Men’s Sheds have identified a range of benefits for the men who participate in them, as well as for the wider community. Older men and social activity: a scoping review of Men’s Sheds and other gendered interventions published in Ageing and Society in April 2015 identified a range of positive effects of the initiative on older men, particularly in terms of improvements in their mental health and wellbeing status. While limited evidence was found of a positive impact on the men’s physical health, the review did find that belonging to a Men’s Shed provided participants with both a personal and social sense of accomplishment – through learning and sharing skills and contributing to their local community – as well as a sense of purpose, through social engagement with their peers which enabled opportunities for fun and camaraderie.

Men’s Sheds in the UK

Between 2010 and 2012, Age UK ran a ‘Men in Sheds’ pilot project, initially limited to Kendal, Bildworth and South London. The popularity of the pilot saw it covered in the national press and other ‘Men in Sheds’ projects soon opened in other areas, with one participant expressing his regret that the initiative had not been established in his area years ago.

In 2013, the UK Men’s Sheds Association was launched. They provide information on how to start a new Men’s Shed, or develop an existing organisation, and have helped form regional networks of Sheds.

One of these networks is in Glasgow, which is now home to the Glasgow Area Men’s Sheds (GAMS) group. We spoke to current GAMS secretary Charlie, who became involved in Men’s Sheds after illness led to him experiencing unemployment and social isolation. After coming across the UK Men’s Sheds Association website, he met up with six other men who were also interested in starting a Shed in Glasgow. Fast forward a year, and there are now at least six separate Sheds in the Glasgow area, at which Charlie estimates there are around 80 regular attendees. For Charlie personally, involvement with Men’s Sheds has allowed him to “build a portfolio of work experience, gain possible references, meet new people, go to new places and do new things”.

Charlie also pointed to research published by the Joint Improvement Team (JIT) in February 2015 which highlights the rapid spread of Men’s Sheds throughout Scotland over the last two years, with Sheds now in 18 of the country’s 32 local authority areas. The report also looks at the development paths of Men’s Sheds, as well as drawing out lessons for other community capacity building initiatives and outlining the local and community support needed to develop a Shed.

What about the women!

According to GAMS, the question of why the Sheds are men-only affairs is a common one. Their response is that “Men’s Sheds address specifically male issues involving male social isolation, men’s health both physical and psychological, re-defining of masculinity in modern society […] women have much more and highly developed socialising group opportunities”.

As well as highlighting a tendency towards loneliness among older men, research has also indicated another trend – the decline of men’s social networks as they age, particularly after the death of a partner. Thus, the importance of Men’s Sheds in “promoting social engagement and healthy, active ageing among older men” is perfectly demonstrated.

The Idox Information Service can give you access to a wealth of further information on active and healthy ageing. To find out more on how to become a member, contact us.

The Knowledge Exchange Blog

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Tag Archives: ageing

(Older) people power: the economic opportunities of an ageing society

The official blog of The Knowledge Exchange from Idox

Tackling inequalities at the local level

Approaches to poverty reduction in Greater Manchester

Creating a consensus on healthy ageing

The future of ageing

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Low traffic neighbourhoods

The new long life: a framework for flourishing in a changing world

Clearing the air

Back on track: London’s transport recovery

How should we use grey literature?

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