Exploring Key Healthcare Issues and Policies for Older People

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the key healthcare issues affecting older people, addressing challenges related to employment, healthcare access, and age discrimination. It examines the impact of government policies, such as the 'Ageing Well' program and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, designed to improve the lives of older adults. The essay also highlights the contributions of social science research in providing healthcare facilities and support services for this demographic, including the establishment of healthcare programs and partnerships. Furthermore, the essay explores the political views and attitudes towards older people, including the perception of them as a financial drain on society, and the influence of these views on their well-being. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of treating older people as valuable assets, acknowledging their extensive experience and advocating for improved care and support from family members and society.

Key Issues in Health Care

Introduction
An older person is considered those people whose age are surpassing or nearing the life
expectancy of human beings or these are the people who are at the end stage of the human
lifecycle. In this paper, we will discuss the different issues related to the older group or the
different policies developed to provide them effective services. Furthermore, we will also discuss
the role of social science in providing different health facilities to the old age group people. After
studying all this, we are able to conclude how different politics views or policies influences the
provision of services for this group people. This provides us significant knowledge about the
different provisions and facilities for old age people and views of the politics regarding older
people.
Current Issues
Older people faced various issues related to the policies and politics of the government. The
main issues faced by the older include different assumptions of the people regarding, the older
people (Campbell, 2014). They consider that the older people are less ambitious, dynamic, and
hardworking. They faced issues regarding following policies of government:
 Employment: At the employment level most of the employers treat the older persons in a
bad manner. They think that they are less hardworking and unable to cope with pressure
and challenges. Due to this point of view they face various problems and felt
demotivated.
 Healthcare: Older people also faced various problems due to the provisions of the
government regarding health care services for older citizens. They faced problems in
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finding a family physician and a lack of treatment for particular medical conditions
(Prince, 2015). Furthermore, the older people receive limited benefits coverage regarding
the health care system. Due to this, the seniors need to pay more for medically-related
and dental services.
On the other hand, they also faced different age discrimination issues which affect their mental
condition as well as physical condition to a larger extent. This will lead dissatisfaction in the
mind of older people, and they want to give away from their family members and the society.
Policies for Older Group
The government of the UK takes various initiatives to improve the life cycle of older people. It
develops various policies to help them in living their life successfully. Some of them are
following:
 DWP establishes the ‘Ageing Well’ program with the partnership of local government
association (Tinker, 2014). The main motive of this program is to support different
councils to provide a good quality of life for older people. All this has done through
offering different types of local services that are specially designed to meet their demands
now, and in the near future.
 Welfare Reform communications toolkit: It is the new paradigm of providing services to
older people. This was done through informing them about different changes and their
specifications.
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 UK Advisory Forum on Aging: The main motive of this group is to bring together
representatives from big organizations as well as the small organization that work with
older people groups, older people or regional representatives. It is established to improve
the health and well-being of older people (Chou, 2015). This was done through
identifying different challenges and opportunities for older people.
 Madrid International plan of action on ageing: It is an effective policy made by the
government for the help of older people. According to this policy, the government
develops 10 commitments to bring about the changes required to identify the
opportunities and challenges of an ageing society (Page, 2014). All this was done to
provide needed support to older people.
Thus, it can be said that government takes various steps for the benefit of older people such as
the pension scheme of the government helps them in living their life easily without any hurdle.
Politics Views regarding Older Group
Older people faced different problems in their life. Political abuse is considered the most
common issue faced by them. It occurs due to the negative attitudes and behaviors of people
towards the older people or their social and economic vulnerability. Ageist attitudes may lead to
mistreatment and discrimination of older people (Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2013). Due to this
negative behavior they suffered a lot and faced many problems in living their life. It can be said
that the different political leaders think that the older people being a financial drain on the
society. Due to this perception they suffered lots in their life. Political leaders think this as a
financial drain because they consider that old person cannot work efficiently and they don't have
the capability to use their potentials. But, it is exactly wrong (Oliver, 2012). They have wide
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experience with which they can change the situation of an organization in a profitable manner.
Ageism is considered the common form of discrimination in the UK and the other societies that
contain various stereotypes and negative views about the elderly. This type of discrimination has
a significant influence on the well-being and care of elderly people. Generally, elder care is
considered the responsibility of different family members. Thus, it can be said that politics views
regarding elder people influence them in a greater manner. This will disturb their mind, and they
think loneliness still existence of a family.
Social Science Research Contribution
Social science research contributed largely for the benefits of older people. It provides different
health facilities to live their life successfully. The below mentioned are some initiatives taken by
social science research in favor of older people:
 It established different health care programs to provide the best health care facilities to
them (Walker, 2012).
 It is strengthening the partnerships across in-hospital, private care sectors, community
aged care, and community-based primary care. All this is done with the perspective of
providing efficient health facilities to them.
 Furthermore, it also takes initiatives to strengthening the restorative or preventive focus
of health services to fulfil requirements of older people better.
 It also established different coordinated services to provide high-quality health care
services for older people with dynamic and difficult requirements
 It also provides supports in informal carers/care (Reynolds, 2013).
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Thus, it can be said that social science research provides an active contribution in support of
older people. The services provided by them be the living resource of the older people.
Conclusion
After studying all this, it can be concluded that viewpoints of government and the public
influence the older people to a larger extent. The government also plays vital role in providing
them different facilities to live their life successfully. Apart of this, the family members of the
older people should also take initiatives to provide them with a better life with better care
(Bindels, 2015). If they take impressive initiatives, they need not suffer more in their life. So, it
can be said that it is wrong to consider them financial drain, but they should be treated as the
asset due to their wide experience.
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