A new Age UK report has called for a “big shift” towards early intervention, joined up home and community based health and social care services for older people.

The State of Health and Care of Older People in England 2023 report shows older people are being failed by the current hospital-oriented approach to care with one in six emergency admissions of people over 75 occurring within 30 days of being discharged and 36,000 fewer people receiving social care from local authorities since 2017/18.

Caroline Abrahams CBE, charity director of Age UK, said: “At Age UK we are convinced the future lies in bringing health and social care services together locally, to provide better, earlier support for older people at home – but we won’t reap the rewards of this change of approach unless and until we also get a government prepared to grasp the nettle of rescuing and restoring social care – which is such a crucial component.”

The report shows A&E attendances for the 80s went up by 40% between 2012/13 and 2021/22 with 855,000 emergency admissions in 2019/20.

Over winter 2022/23, between 13,000 and 14,000 patients were stranded in hospital on any given day, up from around 4,500 in the same period in 2018/19.

Strains on the NHS are being exacerbated by the crisis in social care with nursing posts in the sector down by almost a quarter between 2015 and 2020 on top of a 12% reduction in the number of district nursing posts.

An estimated 1.6 million people aged 65+ have unmet needs for care and support with almost half (45%) of older people concerned about their ability to access their GP and 40% not feeling they have enough support to manage their health conditions. One in five (20%) unpaid carers are aged 65 plus and many are having to pick up many hours of support, with 85% of older carers worried about whether they would be able to keep caring or providing support.

The report calls for: a strong strategic push to reverse the decline of primary and community health and social care services; more community based services to be developed and joined up in local areas; and a ‘home first’ approach to health and social care for older people.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We recently published our Next Steps to put People at the Heart of Care plan – setting out how we are spending up to £700 million on adult social care reform over the next two years to make sure people get the right care at the right time, including £250 million for the workforce.

“We are also investing a record £1.6 billion over the same period to support timely and safe discharge from hospitals into the community, giving people access to rehabilitation and prevention initiatives, including local falls services.

“And last year we set up new Integrated Care Systems, which help join up health and care. They are already making a difference by bringing together local NHS organisations along with social care and the voluntary sector to benefit patients.”