Homes and ageing in England

The recent changes to the UK health system, with local authorities now responsible for public health, provide a great opportunity to build more integrated approaches to improvements in prevention and reductions in need for costly health care. There is a strong case to be made for prevention through core housing improvements. This briefing note adds to our wider understanding of the close relationship between poor housing for older people and demands on NHS care This paper uses English Housing Survey data and the research methodology used for the BRE Trust briefing paper on ‘The costs of poor housing to the NHS’ to provide an overview of the housing conditions of older people, and to estimate the cost to the NHS in England, of the poor housing occupied by the older population. This older population is examined by four key age bands; 55 to 64 years,65 to 74 years, 75 years and over and 80 years and over.