Agenda item - Age Friendly City Update

84.1         Annie Alexander – Public Health Programme Manager informed members that the AFC programme was making progress.  The AGE UK AGM started the process of consultation with older people as to their views on where the city sits against the WHO Age Friendly City domains, this process would continue at the Pensioner Action meeting in November.  There was now a UK support network for cities striving to attain AFC status, supported by the Beth Johnston Foundation, Keele University and Manchester Valuing Older People (VOP) programme. It was noted that there are limited academic courses available at universities to cover the issues of ageing eg Brighton Medical School only has one course which  primarily for occupational therapists.

84.2         Consultation work will progress over the next months and involve finding out what the city has in place that works well, what is needed and what could be developed to meet these needs.

84.3         A starting point will be to work with the voluntary and community sector (also called the third sector) and involve them in the programme.

84.4         A steering group would be put together, so that work across the council and other agencies can join up. The first meeting has been arranged for the 27^th November with people invited from the OPC (Mike Bojczuk), public sector, third sector, the city’s hospitals, universities and includes Professor Marian Barnes and Lizzy Ward (from the University of Brighton; Applied Social Science), Mike Holgate (People Can), Anne Hagan (Older People’s lead from the Council) , Peter Dale (Consultant), Henry Alexander (BSUH), Councillor Bill Randall (the Mayor of Brighton & Hove),Geraldine Desmoulins (from the FED - Federation for Disabled people) and Kat Pearce (Age UK- Brighton & Hove). 

84.5         A public event would also be planned.

84.6         It is important that AFC work is integrated into current work plans and was used to influence other areas so they consider older people on a wider scale, within infrastructures eg. currently health impact assessments do not include specific consideration of impact of developments on older people. 

84.7         In answer to a question on what the budget was for this programme members noted that AFC would be more about embedding the programme into current ways of working rather than creating new pathways that were not financially viable.

84.8         The Chair thanked the Public Health Programme Manager for her useful update on AFC.