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During the past few months we have been holding workshops
with a cross section of the public and professionals to develop a
strategy for older people.
The aim of the strategy is to focus services on a series of
objectives which will benefit older people and most importantly
promote a positive image of 'old age'.
Read the draft
Strategy for Later Life and
tell us your comments. The closing date for your comments was
the 31 May 2008.
KCC and its partner organisations already have strategies, plans
and vision documents in place which collectively contribute towards
supporting the people of Kent to have a fulfilled, independent,
healthy old age. These include:
What is the Strategy for Later Life?
The idea is to bring together all the agencies that work with
older people, to begin ensuring we provide services across Kent
which focus on a range of agreed priorities.
One of the big things is to make sure that the priorities
identified are those that the public agrees with - this is why we
have involved a cross section of public and professionals from the
beginning to ensure that the priorities are real and relevant.
Why a Strategy for Later Life?
Recent Government guidance has given the Director of Adult
Social Services, Oliver Mills, a responsibility to promote the
welfare of all adults in Kent, not just those who receive social
services so we thought this was a good time to begin promoting the
value of older people. For too long we have felt that there has
been a negative image of old age and the 'burden on society' some
perceive it to be. In reality many older people are carers and
volunteers who make up the backbone of local communities. Our aim
is to promote the positives which far outweigh the negative
perceptions of older people. Furthermore, with the recent changes
in Health and Social Services it seemed a good time to begin
talking to people about 'future services' and how these would be
shaped.
What can I do?
If you are interested you might like to
- Be a part of one of the workshops (further dates will be
arranged soon)
- Invite us to your group to talk more about it
- Send in your comments
- Be a part of the editorial board when the strategy is
drafted.
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