Ageing Successfully
Our Vision for Ageing Successfully in Oxfordshire
Our vision is for Oxfordshire to be a place where older people thrive and feel empowered to live life as they want, controlling for themselves any support they need.
We recognise that as people age they:
- should be supported to remain healthy for as long as possible
- have a right to use the same services, resources and facilities as people in the wider community;
- should be central to decisions that have an impact on their lives and supported to make informed choices;
- must be able to live their lives safely and with dignity;
- need access to community based housing and support options to live independently;
Ageing Successfully Strategy is based on the on several key principles:
- people can anticipate many active years and fulfilling lives after their 60th year
- there is evidence that a range of preventative and health promotion services are beneficial to people as they age through their 50’s and 60’s
- increasing frailty for people over 75 can have a significant impact onpeople’s livesas they age beyond 75
The ‘Ageing Successfully’ strategy is focused on keeping people well (prevention) andshifts the emphasis away from providing services ‘for’ people towards ensuring more active participation in lifestyles which aid well-being and good health while ensuring those whoneed specialist or long term support receiveit.
Delivering this vision involves a comprehensive approach to ageing that addresses the needs of individuals in their 50’s through to end of life. It will require a fundamental shift in focus away from treating the results of ill-health, acute hospital care and services that foster dependency towards primary care, keeping people well, health promotion and investment in personal care where people are helped to manage for themselves in their own homes.