A renewed commitment to making Cardiff a great place to grow older is at the heart of a new draft action plan.
Age-Friendly Cardiff, a network of public service partners including Cardiff Council, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, South Wales Police and the third sector as well as other organisations including businesses, shops, entertainment venues, community groups and older people themselves, has developed the new five-year plan.
It is intended to be a road map for creating an environment where older people are supported to be more active, where they can participate in all aspects of city life, and live independently in their own homes and communities for as long as possible.
The development of the 2024 – 2028 plan builds on the considerable progress made by Age Friendly Cardiff since becoming the first Welsh member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Network for Age Friendly Cities and Communities in March 2022. Now considered by the WHO as an “outstanding member” of the network, Age Friendly Cardiff's work has been showcased to other members around the world as an example of good practice.
Aligned with a number of local, regional and national, strategies and plans, including the council's Corporate Plan 2024-27 and Ageing Well Strategy 2022 – 2027, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board's Shaping our Future Wellbeing Strategy 2023-2035, Cardiff and Vale Regional Partnership Board's Joint Area Plan 2023-28 and Welsh Government's ‘Age Friendly Wales: our strategy for an ageing society', the plan highlights the achievements of the past year including:
- 36,318 care hours delivered by Care Hubs
- 344 home visits carried out by Sight Life, a charity for visually impaired people
- 2,055 older person's events delivered in Cardiff Hubs
- 33,147 customer contacts managed by the council's First Point of Contact team
- 12,000 Home Safety Checks carried out by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service
- 290 dementia-friendly businesses
- 17,144 visitors to the Dementia Friendly Cardiff website
- Over 200 engagement events by South Wales Police
The new plan commits to ensure that citizens can live independently, and are connected to their communities, taking into account what matters to them; to create resilient communities and develop strong community networks that can support older people to live well and to deliver services in a locality setting, close to citizens' homes.
The city's dementia-friendly work remains a priority as well as ensuring that older people can access opportunities to participate in activities and events to improve wellbeing and enrich their lives. Open and accessible transport, the best housing outcomes for all older people and collaboration to improve assessment, diagnosis and care planning practices are also key objectives.
The plan has been structured around the eight domains used by the WHO to describe age friendly cities, which are:
- Outdoor space and public buildings
- Housing
- Transport
- Community Support & Health Services
- Communication & Information
- Civic Participation & Employment
- Social Participation •
- Respect & Social Inclusion
Older Person's Champion and Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Cllr Leonora Thomson, said:
“Cardiff has an ageing population and while the fact that people are living longer is something we should celebrate, it's important that we work together to help older people to be active, healthy and as independent as possible as they grow older.
“The 2024- 2028 plan is the result of extensive collaboration with partners and consultation with our community. We all share the joint vision that our city meets the needs and aspirations of our older citizens, continuing to move forward on our age friendly journey and building on the excellent progress achieved so far.”
