UN Older Person’s Day 2011

Citation

Marks, R. (2012), "UN Older Person’s Day 2011", Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Vol. 13 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/qaoa.2012.55913caa.002

UN Older Person’s Day 2011

Article Type: Foreword From: Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Volume 13, Issue 3

Older people’s contribution to families and communities is considerable, but often unrecognised. It is therefore really important that we use the UN Older Person’s Day on 1 October annually to recognise and celebrate the role played by so many older people.

For the second year running, Cardiff University worked in partnership with others to arrange a conference and public lecture focussing on issues relating to research, policy and practice. The event offered the opportunity to learn from experts in their field, share best practice and look to the future.

The audience came from a variety of different backgrounds and were able to ask questions of the speakers, in addition to valuable networking opportunities and informal discussions.

From my perspective, as commissioner and conference chair, two key points emerged:

1. 1.

   First, that engagement with older people is essential to inform research, policy and practice development.

2. 2.

   Second, that we achieve our best results by working in partnership – and that in Wales we have some excellent examples to build on.

We need to recognise the contribution older people make to our society, ensure we tackle the challenges that face older people and make Wales a great place to grow older.

Ruth MarksOlder People’s Commissioner for Wales.