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The BGS, British Society of Gerontology (BSG) and British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA) have re-launched the BCA.

The three organisations representing academics and doctors with an interest in ageing have come together under the auspices of the British Council for Ageing (BCA) to improve and increase training of young researchers and clinicians in gerontology, act as a point of contact for policy-makers in government, provide informed opinion on the subject of ageing and raise awareness of current issues for the older individual.

The BCA has been set up in response to the results of a 2005 House of Lords report into the scientific aspects of ageing. The report concluded that despite an increasingly ageing population, there is a lack of doctors and nurses aware of the needs of an older physiology and research in the area is “under-represented, poorly co-ordinated and lacking in adequate funding”.

The report conducted by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee called for improvements in the co-ordination of research into ageing and a readily identifiable point of contact on the subject. The BCA is thus intended to act as a vehicle by which the three Societies involved can provide a united national voice on the issue of ageing and ageing research in the UK.

Influencing the level and direction of future research into ageing in the UK is to be a clear priority for the BCA. The House of Lords report showed that most funding of ageing research is currently directed to the treatment of age-related disease.

Chair of the BSRA and co-founder of the BCA, Professor Janet Lord, suggested that whilst such research should not cease, “most rational people would want to avoid cancer, incontinence or blindness rather than experience the latest therapies for these age-related conditions and there is a clear need to promote research into the process of ageing itself, in order to identify interventions that could help minimise age-related disease in the future”.

Speaking at the launch, Professor Chris Phillipson, Past President of the BSG and co-founder of the BCA said: “The case for inter-disciplinary and inter-professional work in respect of older people is especially strong and the British Council for Ageing sees the sharing of knowledge across the disciplines as a central objective of its work”.

The BCA have identified a need for more researchers ready to undertake evaluations on ageing. Currently Chairs of Geriatric Medicine in nine major UK medical schools including Bristol, Liverpool, Leicester, Manchester, Birmingham, and four of the five Schools in London, are lying vacant. Professor Peter Crome of the BGS and fellow founder of the BCA commented, “Not only does this have a marked effect on the ability to conduct research, but it makes it that much more difficult to train future generations of academic leaders”.

Elderly care in the UK is also lacking in adequate government funding. The National Service Framework for older people is currently one of only two National Service Frameworks, set up by the Department of Health to support long-term strategies for improving specific areas of care, which remains without financial support. All others receive vital state funding.

Professor Phillipson concluded, “The task we have set ourselves with the BCA is to develop as a respected contact point for policy-makers in government and elsewhere, providing evidence and pressing the case for further work in social, medical and biological gerontology”.

Karen Winterhalter
Onyx Health
Tel: 07810 752 027