Active older adults

Greater Manchester’s vision is for older residents to be able to contribute to, and benefit from, sustained prosperity and enjoy a good quality of life. Living well for longer is important for all of us, and together we can create the conditions for everyone to enjoy a good quality of life, in good health with limited health-related disabilities, for longer. However, we know these conditions are not in place at the moment.

Greater Manchester’s population is ageing rapidly; by 2036, 14% of our total population will be 75 and over – a 75% increase from 2011. Whilst healthy life expectancy is improving, it remains below the national average; over 20% of a residents’ life is spent in poor health. Within Greater Manchester itself, there is also great inequality in healthy life expectancy dependent upon a person’s borough, gender and socio-economic status.

This demonstrates the need for a massive shift towards creating a true, preventive, whole-system approach to ageing well throughout the life course. If we don’t do things differently the number of people at risk of social isolation and loneliness is forecast to increase, along with the related impacts on physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Physical activity will play an integral part to help achieve Greater Manchester’s vision - enabling older adults to live a healthier, happier later life, with reduced social isolation and loneliness.

Since the development of the Greater Manchester Age-Friendly strategy, and having set the ambition to become the ‘UK’s first Age-Friendly City Region’, Greater Manchester has made real, tangible progress in supporting its key ambitions such as establishing age-friendly communities; developing local age-friendly plans and; supporting more people to be physically active as they age.

We will celebrate an active life in older age in a positive and inclusive way - dismantling systemic ageism and creating and embedding age positive / friendly language, structures, spaces, places and activities (physical and digital).

Age-Friendly Strategy

GMCA have refreshed their Age Friendly Strategy for 2024-2034.

The strategy takes a holistic approach to ageing in GM and “ageing well” is a key theme throughout. It references "embedding the delivery of Active Ageing across Greater Manchester, in partnership with Greater Manchester Moving, to increase levels of physical activity amongst older people."

GM Moving and the GM Ageing Hub are working in collaboration to create an implementation plan for 2024-2027, documenting the key deliverables and actions for this period.

We are capturing what is happening locally in each borough and trying to align priorities, share learning and ensure the Age Friendly Strategy can support and add value to the region and at a local level.

Pathfinder

The Greater Manchester Ageing in Place Pathfinder is working to make sure older people's voices are heard and valued in the places they live.

The Pathfinder represents a significant commitment from a wide range of stakeholders to establish resident-led partnerships in nine neighborhoods in Greater Manchester. In these partnerships local organisations are working together with local residents to agree and prioritise ways to improve the quality of life for residents as they grow older.

Pathfinder Partnerships are focused on neighbourhoods where there are clustered populations of residents in mid and later life, which can be known as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities.

In these places, building an inclusive approach to age-friendly community infrastructure will aim to engage socially isolated local residents and communities to participate and find new ways of supporting and connecting them to improve their health and wellbeing.

They are putting older people’s voices and lived experience at the heart. Learning about what they value, the contributions they make and the barriers they experience to ageing well in their local communities.

Learnings from Greater Manchester

The Greater Manchester Active Ageing programme was a two year programme, running from 2018-20, that explored new ways to encourage physical activity amongst older adults (over-55s). It needed to explore healthy ageing to tackle inequalities and the psychosocial barriers to physical activity amongst older adults. At the end of the programme the evaluation partner, The University of Manchester, produced a report including recommendations for how to engage older adults in physical activity interventions. Click below to find out more information and read the evaluation findings and recommendations.

GM Active Ageing Programme