Elderly indicators shunned

Age Concern has expressed its disappointment at the lack of councils choosing older people's health and wellbeing indicators in their local area agreements.

The charity said the poor take-up called into question councils' commitment to improving life for the elderly.

Just two indicators with direct relation to older people — on self-directed support and carers' needs — feature on the Department for Communities & Local Government's top 20 list for LAAs, chosen by 81 and 80 councils respectively. In contrast, three out of the six most popular indicators related to under-18s.

Age Concern policy adviser Gillian Connor said it was particularly disappointing that only a handful of councils had opted to prioritise better life-expectancy, neighbourhood satisfaction, and independent living targets for older people.

"It means extra resources won't go into these priorities and that strategic targets haven't been agreed," she said.

She predicted that the low take-up would result in less drive to co-operate with primary care trusts (PCTs) on targets, as well as a lack of both local and national information on how well services were being delivered to older people.

The Local Government Association's programme director for community wellbeing, Anne McDonald, said such fears were overstated.

"Just because a particular priority isn't set in a LAA, doesn't mean they won't be working on it," she said.

On Tuesday, the all-party parliamentary local government group called for funding to be transferred from NHS budgets to LAA-based grants if councils demonstrated investment in prevention reduced the cost to the health service from  older residents' falls.

The group of MPs' and peers' Never Too Late for Living report also said councils should be given the lead over PCTs in commissioning local health and social care.

Group chair Clive Betts MP (Lab) said a range of pilot projects should be established to find the best way to dismantle the barriers between council and NHS care services.