Age

1  Introduction

This is one in a series of needs assessments regarding protected characteristic groups to support compliance with the public sector Equality Duty (The Equality Act 2010).

The document is intended to raise awareness of the key public health, and health and social care considerations relevant to people in different age groups; and to provide a starting point to inform the development of Equality Impact Needs Assessments (EINAs).

Age is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, and refers to people of a specific age (e.g. 37 years) or age range (e.g. 40 – 49 years)[1].

Age is often considered in terms of life-course groups, such as:

• Infants & children (0 – 17 years)
• Adults (18 – 64 years)
• Older people (65+ years)

A substantial analysis of the equality issues faced by Children in Richmond was recently completed[2]. This report aims to complement this where possible, rather than repeat its content.

2  Background

It is important to recognise that due to biology, ageing, and life-course circumstances such as education, work, and family; the health and social care needs of people in different life-course groups vary widely.

The risk of the majority of diseases, and associated disability and needs, increases substantially with life-course progression beyond infancy and childhood. However, it is also increasingly recognised that there are life-long benefits of a healthy choices made in the early years of life, including before birth.

Programmes and services to cater for the particular needs of different age groups are often designed and delivered separately.

However, it is important that all relevant services are accessible to and appropriate for all age groups; and that age specific services (e.g. elderly care) are of equivalent quality in the widest sense, including considerations such as humanity and dignity.

3  Local picture

As shown in the Table below, within the Borough important variations are seen in the current distribution of people in different age groups.

Population of Richmond Borough wards (2013) by age group

These variations need to be taken into account in the planning of access and design of local services. The following wards have higher proportions of particular age groups:

• Infants (0 – 4 years): Mortlake and Barnes Common, and South Twickenham
• Children & young adults (5 – 24 years): Heathfield and South Richmond
• Working age adults (26 – 60 years): Twickenham Riverside and South Twickenham
• Older people (60 – 74 years): Hampton and Hampton North
• Elderly (75+ years): Ham, Petersham and Richmond Riverside, and Whitton.

5  Service Provision

A comprehensive range of public health programmes[3], and health and social care services are designed, planned and delivered to meet the needs of Richmond’s population.

The following mechanisms are in place to ensure that consideration is given to the diverse population and individual needs of residents, including those of protected characteristic groups.

• Development of needs assessments to research local population health and wellbeing needs.
• Liaison with a range of local community organisations, including, for example, Age UK
• Tailoring of the design and delivery of services to maximise their appropriateness and accessibility to all residents, including the targeting of services and initiatives at populations with diverse needs, including protected characteristic groups. For example:
  • Eligibility for the NHS Health Check service is primarily based on age and the calculation of an individual’s risk and intervention takes age into account.
  • The LiveWell Richmond healthy lifestyle service is available to adults of all ages, with no upper age limit, and includes a befriending service for older people (aged 50+) via partners in Age UK. Also, following a review, the service is examining ways to improve engagement with younger people.
  • Young people are a priority group for the Richmond Kick It stop smoking service.
  • Older age groups are eligible for a number of national cancer screening programmes, including those for breast and colon cancer.
  • Older age groups are eligible for the national season flu immunisation programme.
  • The National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) provides screening for young people aged 15 – 24 years.
  • Development of a Richmond Loneliness and Isolation needs assessment and Better Care Closer to Home strategy considering the needs of older people.
• Audits, reviews, and evaluations of existing services including consideration of equality and diversity issues.
• Equality Impact Needs Assessments (EINAs) of new services and changes to existing services.
• Monitoring of service use by key population characteristics, including some protected characteristic groups.
• Adoption of equality requirements in service specifications and monitoring processes as part of contracting requirements for services and their providers.
• Annual reviews of compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duties.
• Implementation of the NHS Equality Diversity System by local NHS commissioners and providers.
• The council has undertaken an audit of provisions for protected characteristic groups in public health programmes and the findings are under consideration. 

6  Conclusion

A number of further actions are underway or being considered by Richmond Borough Council, including:

• Development of a detailed equalities profile for the Borough based on the results of the 2011 Census. This will further support general consideration of protected characteristic group equality issues across council responsibilities and beyond.
• Work to support Richmond CCG in their planned update of their Public Sector Equality Statement and implementation of the NHS Equality Diversity System.
• Review of service specifications for the commissioned services included in public health programmes, to ensure an adequate and consistent approach equality issues relating to the protected characteristic groups.
• Review of access to data essential to undertake adequate equality monitoring of key public health services, particularly immunisation and screening. 

References

[1] Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) website www.equalityhumanrights.com accessed 10/03/2014

[2] London Borough of Richmond on Thames/Royal London Borough of Kingston. 2014. Achieving for children: Equality needs assessment 2013-14.

[3] NHS Health Checks, LiveWell Richmond health lifestyle service, Kick It stop smoking service, School nursing and the National Child Measurement Programme, Sexual health and contraception services, Substance misuse services, Screening programmes, Immunisation programmes.

The Equality and Diversity pages of DataRich provide further data and analysis on each of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

Document information

Published: July 2014
For review: July 2017 
Topic lead: Jane Bailey, Public Health Lead