The life expectancy of the UK population is increasing by five hours a day, but our society and economy are unprepared for this challenge, argues a new report from Nesta.
The report – Five Hours a Day: Systemic Innovation for an Ageing Population – calls for an end to ‘out-of-date assumptions’ about ageing. It says that while innovations in science and technology have radically increased life expectancy, areas such as social care funding and care homes have failed to change.
Halima Khan, director of Nesta’s public services lab and author of the report, said: ‘Whilst scientists have found the ‘ageing genes’ and are trying to unlock the fundamentals of how we age, social policy and how we think about age is stifled. We need to build approaches that are fit for the future – not preoccupy ourselves with mending models that were built for the past.’
The report explains that there are a number of different mechanisms that can contribute to change, including organisations working together to develop, test and scale radically-improved solutions.