Health and Wellbeing Report

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Skills for the Future

What can we say to young people now about the future of old age?

Benedict Arora asked the group to consider where they thought we would be by the middle point of the century in terms of the needs of our elderly population and what that means in terms of the workforce?

Professor Warwick stressed the need to recognise that there are going to be four age groups, as opposed to the three that we most commonly think about currently. He explained that there would be “the kiddy-wink age group, a working age group and then there is another age group where you are still active and you still contribute…but you also enjoy yourself a little bit…and then when you are 85 or 90 you are into the category that we understand as old age now. So 85-90 will be the new 60-65.”

Gavin Nettleton proposed a less linear model, which sees break periods within a working life. He thought this vision would allow older people to play a great role in “production and therefore become more valued”. Professor Tallis thought that young people should know that there is still going to be “a huge demand for face to face contact” and he contextualised this in terms of the recent history of general practice where “they have tried to smarten it and smarten it and regulate it,” despite the demand for face to face contact with doctors, who are at the front line, appearing to get greater and greater.

By way of a challenge to this vision, Joop Tanis expressed how he was “amazed by the conservatism in the room,” and sighted Dr. Sam Everington as an shining “adopter of technology.” Everington challenges the idea that face to face contact with patients is essential in all cases. He sees 70% of his patients by telephone initially so that only 50% actually need to come in and see him. Tanis was keen to point out that “this is a radical shift away from a growth in the demand for face to face contact”. His vision was that, “we have more [tele-care] which frees up our time to deliver the face to face contact when it really matters.” He also added a second vision – that “much of that technology needs to be not noticed by me, it should not require action by me, it should not mean that I have to do something different from my daily life…so ‘true technology’ is pervasive in my life without me knowing it.” He sighted the example of a diabetic patient who might have a mirror in their bathroom which displays information about their insulin levels via an electric toothbrush with sensors in it. This sort of integration of health, wellbeing and technology require innovative and socially centred thinking.

Dick Davies talked about ‘drivers of change’ in terms of old age, which he felt were primarily going to be demographic and economic and agreed with Professor Tallis’s model of a new old age, coining the term “work-sioners” for people who are in their later years but still contributing economically. He sighted the example of his 80 year old mother who is, “running around the internet,” and how important this is for her as a “window onto the world”. Ghislaine Boddington share with the group the uptake of the ipad with people over 60, due to it’s user-friendly and touch based interface. Professor Warwick added to this by asserting how much easier it is to be able to check up on elderly people if they are connected through the internet. In terms of care, Gavin Nettleton commented that in 50 years time, people may well be caring for themselves. As such, self-reliance, initiative and problem solving emerged as core skills, which if developed now in the context of health and wellbeing, could be of significant benefit to young people in the future.

Paul Cheng saw the potential for avatars to help with scenario planning as a tool through which young people might be able to get a sense of what their futures might be. He felt that “the ability for avatars to augment feedback loops, and look at how decisions upstream will affect those downstream, is a very exciting and useful possibility”.

Dave Taylor drew attention to issues around access to the internet in schools, in what he described as “isolated classrooms”. He stressed how technology can remove barriers to distance and suggested that given that it is not possible for a class to visit an NHS hospital, they could instead experience it interactively, in a virtual world.

Lastly, Benedict Arora emphasised how important it is not to “set up false dichotomies between ‘it’s either got to be this or that. Realistically you wanted a blended mix…” In this context Joop Tanis shared with the group that there are 6000 health apps available for the iPhone, only a fraction of which have been developed by healthcare professionals. He added that, “because the space is occasionally occupied by rubbish, we don’t actually see the full potential of it.” He went on to recommend that, “if we were to occupy that space…and put some really good stuff in there,” there would be significant opportunities emerging from a new blend of everyday technology, healthcare and well being.

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