Our Aging Population - Including Me

In light of the publication of the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee’s report on Scotland’s ageing population, a debate was held in the chamber in which I was proud to participate, and I was generally impressed with the positive tone in which the debate was carried out.

The committee had looked at the many challenges that are presented by the sharp upward trend in average age in our society, which is being driven by the people of Scotland living longer and having fewer children. And it is true that a demographic shift toward an older population requires certain measures, both economic and social, to ensure that people are provided for in their later years.

The Scottish Government and the SNP are committed to moving toward preventative spending in both early years and for the elderly, thereby ensuring that more people living in Scotland can achieve their full potential in life, as well as offering better value for money for the tax payer in the long term. The integration of health and social care is just one example of the preventative approach which is also improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services.

According to Age UK, it is estimated that it costs £5,000 to provide personal care for someone, ie at home, while it costs £25,000 plus per year for a person to be looked after in a care home or hospital. Therefore, maintaining free personal care in the face of savage cuts from Westminster is both saving the taxpayer money, and mitigating demand on hospital beds.

Moreover, it is increasing the number of older people who can retain their independence and continue to live and receive treatment in their own homes, thus remaining more active and more engaged in their communities.

However, to focus on purely the economic aspects would be to overlook the broader achievement that this demographic shift represents. That is, people in Scotland are living longer, healthier, happier lives, which is hugely encouraging and should be seen, first and foremost, as a success.

In fact, over the last ten years, overall life expectancy across the whole of Scotland has increased. However, there is still a need for progress on health inequalities to help close the gap between the difference in life expectancy between Scotland’s most and least deprived areas.

The committee and many of those speaking in the debate also talked about the positive impact of demographic change and recognised the potential of the older part of our population to make a positive economic and social contribution.

We know that over-65s can bring enormous experience and knowledge to their age peers and to the young alike, especially in the work place. Moreover, it is often this age group which regularly take it upon themselves to volunteer in the community, helping friends and neighbours as well as supporting charity work.

So let us talk about the positives of age and the recycling of experience and knowledge. Let us talk up the contributions that older people can make and create opportunities for those contributions to be made.

The SNP has this week introduced a bill in Parliament to extend the voting franchise to include 16 and 17 year olds. This is a ground-breaking move which shows our commitment in Scotland to fairness and inclusion.

By the same token, we must also ensure that our older people do not become disenfranchised from politics or excluded from society. If old people are isolated from the rest of our community, they will be denied the best quality of life, and other generations denied the opportunity to learn from them.