Caring for the old

The amount of time spent needing daily care at the end of life has doubled in England over the past two decades, a study suggests.

The Newcastle University study found men spent 2.4 years on average needing regular care and women three years. This includes everything from help with washing and dressing each day to round-the-clock care.

Researchers said it suggested there needed to be a sharp increase in the number of care home places to cope. The number of places would need to rise by a third to cope. An extra 71,000 care home spaces are needed in the next eight years to cope with Britain’s soaring demand as people living longer face more health problems

Between 1991 and 2011, life expectancy increased by more than four years for both men and women to 82.6 and 85.6 respectively. But the number of those years spent with substantial care needs rose much more rapidly, from 1.1 to 2.4 for men and 1.6 to three for women. Looking ahead to 2025, it means there will be another 350,000 people with high care needs, the researchers predicted.