Safety for the Elderly - Our Concerns - Your Information

Community Safety Strategy

Safety for the elderly

Home Fire Safety Check for the Elderly

Home Fire Safety Check List

Home Safety Self Assessment Questionnaire

Smoke Alarms

Elderly at Risk?

Special Treatment?

We must not make the mistake of seeing older people as all being the same. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has spoken of trying to create a "Society that does not caricature all older people as either patients or pensioners". Every day an older person does something - runs a marathon, or goes into space at 77 - to prove that age tells us very little about someone's needs or ambitions. They are as individual as any other age group.

Some people will become more frail and need greater care while they are still relatively young. But as more people learn to take care of their health, more will stay active for many years after they retire. Like everyone else, older people want as much choice as possible over their lives. And they want other people to know and respect what they add to our society.

As individuals get older, they may need help from different people and organisations to go on living an active, independent and secure life. When help is needed, agencies should build in respect for the wants and opinions of older people, as well as their physical needs. Health, social care, housing and other agencies working together can help older people stay in their own homes in comfort and safety.

Better Government programme

The Fire Service's part in this is to make sure older people are as safe from fire as possible. We must help them stay safe within a framework based on respect for their dignity and independence.