We have been developing our direction for the Ageing project due to commence in April this year. In our initial investigations we spoke to older people in nursing homes, in their own homes, and front line staff working in the nursing care sector. Each member of the team undertook their own light touch research to inform ourselves of the issues facing people as they enter or prepare for older age. Our starting point was the challenge that we might 'design out' the need for nursing homes.

What became clear as we shared our experiences was that perhaps this was not the right challenge. As we posted our observations the problems and opportunities were many and diverse:

'Transport appears to be a significant cost in day care. We?ve observed people being transported to day care from across the county only to form social groups based on locality.'

'There is little support for families to help their elder relatives. Care is particularly difficult for distributed resources.'

'Elders have knowledge, and capabilities they would derive pleasure from sharing with other elderly.'

'Turning up at a nursing home is like asking for a favour for someone you?ve never met - people appear to be arriving at homes in a state of crisis ? too frail to articulate needs or develop networks. This results a vicious circle of isolated individuals and impersonal service.'

'People invest financially, physically and emotionally in their homes ? only to lose and probably sell them on moving into a home in a state of crisis.'

'How might we enable conscious decision making about the 'third age' of life?'

'Can we rethink the post-retirement period ? increased self reflection and scenario based forward planning?'

'Is there a way to tackle controversial issues like euthanasia or elder hedonism?'

These are only early thoughts. Over the coming month we will be working closely with our Associates and advisors to refine the thinking and focus our project framework. Comments and input are welcome.

CATEGORY: AGEING