Independent Age response to Transforming Primary Care

Independent Age response to Transforming Primary Care

Independent Age Head of Policy and Campaigns, Andy Kaye, said:

“Independent Age welcomes today’s announcement that all people aged over 75 will have a named GP with overall responsibility for their care. This is exactly the kind of measure that older people, their carers and family members need, particularly when growing numbers of people live with multiple health conditions and require a co-ordinated approach to their healthcare. We hope the benefits of the Proactive Care Programme will be felt by the many older people experiencing social isolation, who GPs say sometimes turn up in their surgeries because they are lonely and have no one else to whom they can turn. The reality, though, is that GPs alone cannot hope to meet this growing group of older adults’ social, psychological and emotional needs. The success of Transforming Primary Care will to a very large extent hinge on reforms to adult social care, where the trend is that fewer, not more, older people are getting the co-ordinated help or preventative support they so badly need.”