Older People: Their Place and Contribution in Society

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Friday 14th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone]

My Lords, I declare my interests listed in the register, which include being a board member of BUPA. I shall follow the right reverend Prelate by adding the warmest appreciation to the most reverend Primate for his service to us all. In my experience he is a man of deep faith, intellect, wisdom, virtue and modesty. I speak as a lay canon of one of our cathedrals. How delighted I am that he is embarking on a new career.

I am one of the upbeat rather than downbeat speakers today because the most reverend Primate is now going to a new job to head a college at a university where this year one college appointed a new principal aged 72. Newnham had to change its articles to admit her as a principal. This is a new job and a new start. The other day I came into a debate when the legal mafia were here discussing the retirement age for Supreme Court judges. They were all saying that it should be 75, because this would give women a chance to catch up. You could have equality at 75 and the women could catch up with the men.

I want to talk about some of the most serious problems that we face. In the corporate world, I notice that 10 of the FTSE 100 chairmen are in their 70s: the chairmen of Rolls-Royce, Barclays, Lloyds, and the Bank of England are all in their mid-70s. Both Barclays and Lloyds had a little bit of local difficulty earlier in the year. So why would they in such difficult circumstances have looked for a chairman in their 70s? I think it is self-evident. I remember that long ago when I did my health job, if I had a totally insoluble equation, it was always someone in their 70s—Cecil Clothier, Bernard Tomlinson, Sir Donald Wilson—who solved it. So I am with the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross. There are wonderful models of people leading fulfilled and active lives.

The fact that so many jobs now are about brain not brawn enables people to continue working ever longer—and of course, this is the model place. How lucky are we? Right until the end, Lord Ferrers, Lord Newton and Lord Marshall—with us not so long ago—were making energetic, involved and engaged contributions. Many older people also have the blessing of spending time with their grandchildren. Most of us wish we had never had children—only grandchildren. It is preferable; I think Gore Vidal said that. The ability to combine different parts of one’s life is absolutely remarkable.

Her Majesty the Queen was mentioned. The point is most simply made. When the Queen came to the throne, she used to send out fewer than 3,000 congratulatory messages. Last year she sent out 10,000, and 30,000 messages for diamond weddings. The world has changed. When this building was constructed, life expectancy was 29. Life expectancy is now 82 for women, 78 for men. There has been a transformation. At the beginning of the century in 1911, six out of 10 people died before they were 60. Now only one in 10 dies before 60. Obviously and evidently, we need to use older people to good effect.

The noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, mentioned employment. B&Q has set a wonderful example. It opened a store in Macclesfield staffed entirely by people over 50. Of course, to me that is childhood, but noble Lords will understand the point. Following this, it produced 18% higher profits. More and more employers are looking at how they can encourage people of an older age to join the workforce, because they are very good even with people pilfering and shoplifting. They look at the youngsters and say, “Watch what you’re doing; I’ve got my eye on you”. As has been said, they are reliable, stable, and loyal in the long term. There are huge opportunities there for employers.

I endorse the most reverend Primate’s comments about culture change. I first learned this in my constituency where there are quite a lot of grown-up people. There was a culture change for children: playgroups, small chairs in hospital waiting rooms and all sorts of facilities to make us child friendly. How do we become more older-people friendly? Perhaps with park benches, handrails and steps to stop them falling over. In my area, long before day centres for the elderly were established, a group of people decided that they would take over the scout hut, take in deck chairs and create their own centre for the elderly. I am a patron of the Clockhouse. It has been transformed now with a bit of public money. I have no idea what the difference in age is between those being helped and those helping. Those helping are lonely and isolated and want something interesting to do and those being helped have bodies that are falling to bits; otherwise there is very little to tell between them. That is what I call a culture change of communities working with each other and for each other.

I would also like to mention the Abbeyfield Society. I was its president for many years and handed on to the noble Baroness, Lady Neuberger. Now I am delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, has taken over. Abbeyfield’s 800 houses—homes that are closely integrated in their communities—are like student accommodation. You are allowed to drink. There are no curfews. They demand internet access. The consumer generation is now in Abbeyfield homes. These are not sweet little old ladies. They all go shopping at Next and look as glamorous as their granddaughters. They want a life. They want to go out drinking and dancing and having fun. It is about understanding that transformation in expectations, abilities and contributions.

I could not say that there is not a dark side; there is. Only recently, we heard about the situation at Mid-Staffs; about the man with Parkinson’s at East Surrey Hospital; about Winterbourne View; and about Ash Court care home. In our midst, we have the most disgraceful examples of older people being treated in a disgraceful fashion. Noble Lords who, like me, many years ago used to study the long-stay geriatric hospitals—the “sans-everything” climate—may have thought that with modern facilities, services, resources and investments, it was a thing of the past. It is not. I welcome my successor—not only in my former constituency but in my former role—Jeremy Hunt saying that he wants to transform the way health and social care systems look after older people, not only in dementia but much more profoundly. I welcome him putting pressure on the department, on the Care Quality Commission and on others to give this priority. A recent worrying report from the Royal College of Physicians stated that the system continued to treat older patients at best as a surprise and at worst as unwelcome.

In my excitement and enthusiasm to have reached such an old age myself, I still think that there is so much to do, and I meet many other people in their 70s, 80s and 90s who think the same. When the most reverend Primate moves to Cambridge, he will find my father-in-law looking out of one of the flats opposite. He is 93 and a retired ambassador. If anyone in the family does not know the answer to a club quiz or a crossword, they ring him. He always used to go to the University Library and give the reply the following day. He has been persuaded now to have access to a computer. That is the model we all want in our 90s.

There is also a dark side. I appreciate that the Government have made clear the priority that they will give to tackling these shortcomings.