In the week where we celebrated International Day for Older People and their continued valuable contribution to society, I issued a reminder of the challenges we face to keep an increasing population of older people healthy and well as they age.

Staffordshire's population - much like that of the rest of England - is ageing. Between 2001 and 2021 our population grew by 70,000 and by 2041, it will grow by another 80,000. Almost all this growth is people aged 65 and over and much of it is people aged 85 and over. Meanwhile the working age population is static. This relative reduction in the number of working age adults will have profound consequences for how we organise our society and our public services.