WASP is proud to be part of the recently launched Living Longer Better Programme. The Programme aims to not only to prevent the problems that have hitherto been blamed entirely on the ageing process, notably frailty and dementia, but also to provide a therapeutic programme enabling increased activity - physical, cognitive and emotional - for people who already have one or more long term conditions, including dementia and frailty.
Living Longer Better complements and supplements the Ageing Well programme of NHS England and is supported primarily by the Active Partnerships of England.
Aims
1. Increase activity (physical, cognitive and emotional) which will:
- Help people feel and function better, this year
- Prevent or delay the onset of dementia, disability and frailty
- Focus on the three Rs: regain what they lost during lockdown, recover the strength stamina and suppleness they have lost in the last decade, and recondition the body that disease and inappropriate activity has deconditioned
2. Increase healthy life expectancy and compress the period of dependency.
3. Reduce the need for health and social care because a person with greater strength, stamina, skill and suppleness has greater resilience and is less likely to need acute care.
Learning Programme
Integral to the achievement of the aims of Live Longer Better is a Programme of Learning designed around three groups: citizens, professionals and volunteers, and leaders. The programme encourages new ways of thinking for older people, the family, professionals and volunteers who support them, and the leadership of key decision makers. The learning programme is based on the best current knowledge and delivered through online learning in small interactive groups.
