Quality care crucial to longer lives

Latest figures show an average life expectancy of 83.5 across the population – an increase of more than six years over the past three decades. That is nearly two years ahead of the UK and more than seven years ahead of the USA.

Better health care and hygiene, improved nutrition and reduced child mortality mean that we can all now expect to live significantly longer than our ancestors and this trend is expected to continue.

But is merely living longer what we should be striving for?

Longevity accompanied by good health is certainly something to celebrate, but what if those extra years are consumed by pain, disease, disability and dementia?

We are facing a demographic time bomb, with experts predicting we need to attract 300 new people each year just to prop up Guernsey’s working-age population at 2020 levels.

While most of us accept that our elderly should be cherished and supported, funding the rising health care costs that come with an ageing population is likely to become increasingly challenging.

Which is something worth bearing in mind should this summer’s States debate on capital spending turn into a battle between the competing priorities of health and education.