The general population, along with the wider public health workforce, are living and working for longer. While this can have positive outcomes for our society, it also means that we must prepare for the ways in which this will change the delivery of public health in the UK over the coming years.

Our health needs will change in the future, and we need the wider public health workforce – who are key to ensuring a healthy population – to be prepared. They are uniquely placed to help manage these changes to the public’s health and will be essential in mitigating the effects of an increasingly ageing population.

Following on from our report on unlocking the potential of the workforce, we have published the third of our topical briefings (following on from our first two briefings on climate change and Technology and AI) looking at the future needs of the workforce to ensure that they have the capacity, skills, resources and support needed to protect the public from the impact of new threats on their health.

Who are the wider public health workforce?

The wider public health workforce includes any individual who is not a specialist or practitioner in public health but has the opportunity or ability to positively impact health and wellbeing through their work.

How do they feel about ageing demographics?

The workforce has concerns that their workplaces may not be ready to adapt for an ageing workforce. Many are worried about receiving support for long term health conditions, and how these conditions and reduced levels of mobility could force them to leave work – one quarter of people aged 55 and over with a health condition are considering leaving work because of their health.

Others are worried about taking on caring responsibilities in the future – people from older age groups provide the highest hours of unpaid care.

Highly motivated and knowledgeable employees being forced to leave the workforce would have dire effects on the economy, causing high unemployment rates and increasing training costs for new recruits.

Knowledge and experience will shrink as older people leave the workforce, leaving the next generation of public health professionals without anyone to learn from.

We must support this portion of the workforce to ensure that they continue working into their later years.

How can we mitigate the effects of an ageing population on public health?

The workforce needs to receive more assistance to ensure that they are healthy and capable of meeting the changing health needs of the population. Otherwise, the ageing workforce may not have the capacity to continue working in their roles.

The Government must create a joined-up approach to ensure that those with caring responsibilities are able to continue working in a way that suits them. Employees must access and utilise the occupational health support they will increasingly require remaining healthy and productive.

But this cannot be achieved solely by government. Businesses need to recognise the value older workers bring to them and adapt workplaces and work patterns to ensure that they are supported to remain in work as long as they choose.

Read the full ageing demographics briefing here.