Newcastle Leads Global Debate on Ageing Society

Experts will meet today (Thursday 1 November) in Newcastle to discuss how to tackle the issues the UK faces as the country's ageing population continues to swell.

Over the last 35 years the number of people aged over 65 in the UK has grown by a staggering 31 per cent, from 7.4 to 9.7 million, while the over 85's have grown to a record 1.2 million. In the North East the last three years alone have seen a staggering 2% increase in the number of over 60s.

The inaugural ActiveAge summit to be held in the city's Civic Centre will bring together leading experts from around the world to discuss how technology can be used to help sustain a high quality of life for an increasingly ageing society.

Gregor Rae of BusinessLab said, "There's a general anxiety about how an increasingly elderly society could place new pressures on public services in the near future. By bringing together the world's leading experts in the fields of healthcare and technology, the summit will explore how technology can be used to ensure a high standard of independent living is maintained for millions approaching their later years."

Cels, the organisation tasked by the regional development agency One NorthEast to steer the healthcare sector in North East England, is a partner of the ActiveAge programme. Dr Mike Nicholds, Director Science & Technology at Cels commented, "It is particularly appropriate that Newcastle has been chosen as a hub for the ActiveAge programme. Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health as well as Cels's Assistive Technology Laboratory (ATL) project are leaders in developing technology products specifically for an ageing population. Today's summit reinforces the region's contribution to this hugely important area."

ActiveAge will also work to uncover the economic opportunities the ageing population presents and promote an understanding of these to the wider business community. Rae adds, "ActiveAge, alongside its partners, has a pivotal role to play in bringing organisations together and promoting an understanding of the impact an ageing society is going to have on their businesses.

"We hope that the summit will demonstrate how public and private sectors can work together to ready themselves for the demands of the expanding older population. There is no denying that the demographics of the UK are changing, and so far few companies and government departments have prepared themselves for the repercussions to their business. The ActiveAge programme hopes to stimulate the debate on how this change is best managed to ensure we all have access to the high quality services we would expect in our later years."

This important event will be attended by policy makers, practitioners and solutions providers in health and social care such as:

Kevin Dean, Managing Director, Connected Health, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group
Paul Rubenstein, Assistant Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Policy at Newcastle City Council
Professor Tom Kirkwood, Director at the University of Newcastle's Institute for Ageing and Health.
Stephen Louw, Chair of Newcastle Older People's Local Implementation group
Professor Gordon Peterkin, Director, Scottish Centre for Telehealth

The ActiveAge Summit takes place between 9:30am and 4:30pm on Thursday 1 November 2007 at the Newcastle Civic Centre.

MEDIA CONTACTS Mandy McAndrew ? 07766465670/ mandy.mcandrew@bigpartnership.co.uk
Heather Mason - 01224 332222/ heathermason@businesslab.co.uk
Gaia Hassan, Cels - 0191 211 2602/ gaia.hassan@celsatlife.com

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