Built Infrastructure for Older People's Care in Conditions of Climate Change
It is anticipated that, because of global warming, the UK will see increasing incidence of floods, heat-waves and storms in coming years. These events affect the health of the population, particularly more vulnerable older people. They also affect the services, buildings and communication routes essential in providing health and social care for those older people. These systems and services need to be able to continue to operate effectively even under those adverse conditions.
This project will develop strategies to help ensure that the infrastructures and systems supporting the health and social care for older people (aged 65 and over) will be sufficiently resilient to withstand harmful impacts of climate change in the future, up to 2050.
This project was developed through the ‘Health and Risk Exchange', a forum which brings together expertise from the Institute of Hazard Risk and Resilience and the Wolfson Health Research Institute at Durham. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team in two institutions, based at Durham University and Heriot-Watt University, with expertise in engineering, climate modelling, social and geographical science and health and health care research. It involves mapping those parts of Britain which have large numbers of older people and which are likely to be most affected by storms, floods and heat-waves. Case studies will be used to assess which services are important to older people, families and professional carers. Key parts of the local systems will also be discussed with other experts, such as highway engineers and hospital estates staff.
The results from the project will be made widely available to other groups across Britain and in other countries who might want to make their own local assessments of how to adapt older people's care services to climate change.
Research Team
Principal investigator: Professor Sarah Curtis
Wolfson fellows: Professor Sarah Curtis, Dr Christine Dunn, Professor Lena Dominelli, Mr Jonathan Erskine, Dr Mylene Riva
Other Durham University researchers: Dr Ralf Ohlemüller, Dr Sim Reaney, Dr Katie Oven
Other organizations: Heriot-Watt University
Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Dates: 2009-2012
Keywords: older people; climate change; health and social care
Links: Built Infrastructure for Older People's Care in Conditions of Climate Change (BIOPICCC)
