Landmark Age-Friendly Summit aimed to make society a better place to grow older
News from our partners Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin
Anne Wignall, Chair of Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin, organised an Age-Friendly Summit in Birmingham last month to lend support for making society a better place for older people.
Lord Filkin, CBE, Chair of the Centre for Ageing Better spoke at the summit, highlighting the great opportunities and challenges as people in the West Midlands live much longer. He went on to express the urgent need for local policy makers, the voluntary sector and older people’s groups to work to create Age Friendly Communities and an Age Friendly West Midlands so that many more will benefit from living longer.
Speaking to an audience of over 80 people representing local councils and organisations working with older people, the former Government Minister and Chair of the Lords Committee’s challenging report – Ready for Ageing, set out where change is needed so that many more people will enjoy their longer lives – emphasising the need to plan, prepare and collaborate between local authorities, the NHS, voluntary and business sectors – and older people themselves. Liz Kershaw, Patron of Age UK Warwickshire was also at the event speaking passionately about the subject.
The emphasis on Age Friendly comes as cuts to social care budgets mean older people are struggling to manage and there are growing strains on health and care services. Earlier this year, Age UK research highlighted that 1.2 million older people don’t receive the care they need, and as the number of older people grows, this figure is set to increase.
Anne Wignall, Chair of Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin, said:
“We were delighted that so many speakers with experience of developing age-friendly communities agreed to support the Summit and to help promote this vital work in the region. It was nice to see the support of local councillors from Shropshire and Telford in attendance.”
Anne added:
“Here in Shropshire, we are working as hard as we can all year round to help older people face the different challenges that growing older brings. One of the important roles we play is alerting the local authorities to these issues, and working with them to find solutions, especially during the difficult financial pressures they are under. It is our ambition to see both Shropshire and Telford become Age Friendly.”
If you would like to know more about Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin, and the services available then call 01743 233123 or visit their website www.ageuk.org.uk/shropshireandtelford
Further information
Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin is a local charity which has been working tirelessly for over 67 years to make life better for older people across the whole of Shropshire.
Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin offers a range of services for older people in the county. These include: Information and Advice, Day Centres, dementia support, the Help at Home Service, volunteer befriending visitors, Home from Hospital services, Lunch Clubs, Living Well activities, Benefits Advice, and Advocacy on behalf of older people.
Last year over 100,000 volunteer hours were given to support older people, ranging from helping people to fill in benefits forms, supporting people in our 40 Day Centres, visiting isolated older people at home, to acting as receptionists in our Shrewsbury office.
As part of our ‘No one should have No one’ campaign, we are raising money and recruiting volunteers to increase services such as befriending and social activities that reduce isolation and loneliness among older people in Shropshire.
Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin is based in Shrewsbury and in Telford. The Shrewsbury office is open from 10.00am – 4.00pm Monday to Friday, 01743 233123. Our office at Meeting Point House in Telford is open every morning, 01952 216018. Further information about our local services is available on our website www.ageukshropshireandtelford.org.uk
