Reshaping Care for Older People 2011 - 2021

Scenarios

Source: NHSScotland Library

Although it's hard to know what will happen in the future, we can imagine some of the challenges we might face in 20 years. The following possibilities have been developed by the Scottish Government and other organisations to draw attention to the challenges. They help us to think about how important it is to get things right for people as the number of older people increases.

• If we do nothing: we will not have the services people need.
• Taking action now: we can plan and provide for the growing number of older people and provide information to help people plan for themselves.
• People live longer, healthier lives: They will be able to live independently (or without more care).
• People get more and more frail and need to use more care services: Reshaping Care and planning for better resources from other areas will help meet the increased demand.
• The older population will be bigger than the working population: This could mean there will be fewer people who are trained to look after older people.