Towards a value proposition for Ageing Friendly Communities

This is a hybrid event with online speaker - people are welcome to attend in person at the OMS or participate on-line via Zoom

Convenor: Prof Sarah Harper

Speaker: Dr Louise Lafortune

People are living longer. Yet for many, the opportunities afforded by a longer life – to themselves and society – are lost due to poor health and difficulty remaining involved in society. This is exacerbated by socioeconomic disadvantage, and associated with increasing social and economic costs. The balance between the ‘burden’ and the benefits of an ageing population can thus be tipped either way. One promising approach is to design enabling ‘ageing-friendly’ environments that support people to live well.

While the global trend to create Age-Friendly Communities (AFCs) continues, major gaps remain in our understanding of their effect on health-related outcomes, the resources needed to sustain them, and their social value. This evidence gap reflects a lack of capacity to evaluate these complex interventions, and challenges measuring resources and outcomes. Still, substantial investment in age-friendly initiatives makes it imperative to understand whether they are effective, and what value they can generate.

The presentation will give a timely update on a research programme that aims to develop a sound evidence base and a robust methodology for assessing the social value of age-friendly work at different geographical scales.

This is a hybrid event (Zoom/In-person) with virtual speaker. People are welcome to attend in person at the Oxford Martin School or participate on-line via Zoom.

About the Speaker

Dr Louise Lafortune, Senior Research Associate, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge

Louise is a Principal Investigator for the NIHR School of Public Health Research and coordinator of engagement activities for SPHR@cam. A Senior Research Associate at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health, Louise specialises in Public Health and Ageing. She is co-investigator on the UK National Evaluation of Dementia Friendly Communities Study (DEMCOM) and leads a NIHR CLAHRC project on Frailty and Care Trajectories, which harnesses routinely collected data across care settings.Her research interests encompass the development, evaluation and implementation of interventions and service delivery models aimed at improving care for individuals with complex needs, specifically frail older people. Concerned with the practical application of research findings for population benefit, her expertise includes evidence synthesis, public health analysis and evaluation of changes in services configuration and delivery resulting from health and social care innovation.