BUPA Warn Employers to Plan for Ageing Population

As health improves, people are living for longer and longer. This has implications for our future and there are concerns that suggest that in order to live well people will have to stay in employment longer. Bupa, a health insurance provider, has recently produced a report that encourages employers to think ahead about how it will cater for the growing health needs of its employees.

According to the Healthy Work Report, by 2050 the average age of retirement will be 68 and the average age will rise from 39 to 43 by 2030. This will have serious consequences, with rates of ill health expected to rise proving a burden not only on families and the NHS but on business productivity too.

Managing director for Bupa UK Health Insurance, Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, said: 'For the first time, we have a clear picture of the major health issues that will affect British workers over the next 20 years. We know they will be older and sicker, with millions working with long-term diseases such as diabetes and COPD. Our report provides British businesses with an early warning of how the health needs of workers will change and importantly, it gives them time to take action to keep their employees healthy, productive and at work. The commercial benefits of taking action on workplace health are clear as healthy employees can be nearly three times more productive than those in poor health.'

A recent report by Dame Carol Black, National Director for Health, Work and Wellbeing estimated that the annual costs of sickness absence associated with working age ill-health are in the region of £100 billion. Bupa state that as the workforce get older this figure could increase dramatically and that workplace interventions are needed to help the situation.

Bupa is expected to unveil the second phase of their study later on this year. It will pinpoint workplace health services that will help companies deal with future health issues. It will also advice on how to increase the quality of health in the workplace for individuals, the NHS and the government.

The second phase of the Bupa study is due out later this year and will identify evidence of workplace health services and interventions that will help companies tackle the health issues of the future. It will also advise how to increase the quantity and quality of workplace health for individuals, the NHS and the government.