Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their levels of preparedness for the predicted increase in the older population.

There have been changes in the trends of ill health among older people. For example, we know that it is becoming more common for people to spend their later years with multiple health conditions. The percentage of people aged over 65 years old with two or more health conditions is projected to increase from 54% in 2015 to 68% in 2035. We can reduce the risk of developing conditions by adopting healthier behaviours throughout the course of life, and evidence shows that the earlier in life we make healthy changes, the more we reduce the risk of conditions in later life.

We are focusing on the major conditions which contribute to early mortality and reduce years of good health, and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is taking targeted actions to tackle the most common preventable diseases, improving access and uptake of prevention services, and embedding prevention across health and care. We are delivering an ambitious programme of work to create a healthier environment to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight and supporting the recovery and modernisation of the NHS Health Check programme to detect and manage conditions early. Furthermore, the Government announced on 24 January 2023 that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy, which will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care. An interim report will be published in the summer.