Ageing better in South Gloucestershire

Healthwatch South Gloucestershire carried out public engagement to explore older people's experiences of ageing in South Gloucestershire, with a particular focus on staying active and preventing falls. This work was undertaken as part of Healthwatch South Gloucestershire's work plan priority around engaging with older people to understand their experiences of ageing and keeping themselves healthy and well.

Key findings included: being connected was vital - "a lifetime", but finding out about what was going on in the local area was sometimes difficult for people; people generally preferred face to face contact with health and social care professionals; using GP services was important, but for some people, long waiting times made getting the support they needed difficult and on the whole people were not aware of South Gloucestershire's specialist falls service; people were open to making adaptations to their homes and were aware of the interventions that could be put in place to reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls; and people reported buying or installing mobility equipment or safety features themselves - there was a lack of knowledge of services available in the community to support home adaptations and the use of appropriate mobility aids.

Healthwatch South Gloucestershire highlighted several key themes that emerged from participants' feedback that would benefit from being considered further, in greater detail.