By 2030, 15 percent of the world’s city population will be 60+. This projection led researchers from The Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA) at the University of Manchester to examine the experience of aging, and where better than Manchester, in 2010 recognized by the WHO as the UK’s first ‘age-friendly’ city? The result is a short film presenting their findings: “social inclusion (as) the secret to ageing well – while age-friendly transport and housing make them feel more a part of the urban neighbourhoods they live in.” The film was premiered at a community event in Whalley Range on 23 June and also shown at the British Society of Gerontology’s annual conference at the start of July. Trailer (1 min 24 sec), video (15 min), University of Manchester article.

Integrated health and social care in England – Progress and prospects is now available in full text in the July issue of Health Policy. Written by Richard Humphries of The King’s Fund, it examines the patchy and limited success of 40 years of policy goals by successive Governments, including the last coalition government. It illustrates the tensions among of a variety of new initiatives, along with the NHS reaching for new models of care delivery. “Expectations that integration will achieve substantial financial savings are not supported by evidence. Local effort alone will be insufficient to overcome the fundamental differences in entitlement, funding and delivery between the NHS and the social care system.” TTA has been a media partner of The King’s Fund Digital Health and other events