Lords to question Chief Medical Officer and academics about how to improve the UK's health span
On Tuesday 15th October the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will hold its first evidence sessions for its new inquiry into how science and technology can enable healthier living in old age. The Committee will question the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, and academic experts.
The Committee will explore with the Chief Medical Officer the extent to which factors such as location, gender, ethnicity and wealth affect healthy life expectancy, and what the current UK priorities are to improve health span.
The session will begin at 10:25 in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords. Questions likely to be asked include:
- What key issues need to be addressed to reduce health inequalities in an ageing population, to ensure that the period spent in good health is equalised across the population?
- How do the UK's ageing population statistics compare with other western countries?
- How effective is public health advice for healthy ageing, and can it be updated based on any recent research?
In the second session the Committee will ask how cohort studies, which follow large groups of people throughout their lives, can lead to a better understanding of health in old age. The witnesses will be:
- Professor James Nazroo, University of Manchester
- Professor Marcus Richards, University College London
- Dr Stuart Ritchie, King's College London
The session will begin at around 11:25am. Questions likely to be asked include:
- Why are cohort studies valuable, particularly for studying the processes of ageing?
- What are the main conditions or diseases, covering physical and mental health, that affect older people in the cohorts?
- What are the key public health messages from studies that pertain to ageing?
