Are community services meeting older people's health needs? Live discussion

With the proportion of older people in the UK due to rise from 23% to 28% of the population and the numbers of over-85s to double by 2030, the NHS faces a challenge to develop services that can meet the requirements of ageing generations.

Old age may bring frailty or other health issues – the number of people in England with three or more long-term conditions is expected to reach 2.9 million in the next two years, and most of them will be aged over 60.

Too often care for older people revolves around hospitals, when they would prefer to receive treatment closer to home. And they also often face delayed discharge after treatment.

Our expert panel will discuss how community services can deliver preventive care for older people, help them to manage their health conditions and try to avoid hospitalisation.

Join our live discussion on Tuesday 19 April, from 12pm-2pm BST to discuss whether there is enough support and planning to help older people maintain good health.

We’ll be asking if families and carers are confident that services enable them to properly look after older relatives and whether commissioners are effectively using their powers to deliver services for all older people, whether or not they have family support.

You can leave questions ahead of time in the comment section below, email anna.isaac@theguardian.com or tweet @GdnHealthcare.

The panel

Michael Dixon (@MichaelDixonGP), GP and former chair of NHS Alliance and former president of NHS Clinical Commissioners, chair of everyLIFE advisory board

Professor John Young, Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation, University of Leeds

Phil McCarvill (@Phil_McCarvill), deputy director of policy, NHS Confederation

Anna Dixon (@DrAnnaDixon), chief executive of the Centre for Ageing Better. Former director of strategy and chief analyst at Department of Health

Léa Renoux (@Lea_Renoux) health policy manager, Age UK

Professor Athina Vlachantoni (@CPCpopulation), associate professor in gerontology at the Centre for Research on Ageing and the Centre for Population Change in the University of Southampton

Richard Curtis, head of community healthcare contracting at Specsavers and former NHS commissioner

David Oliver, consultant in geriatrics and general internal medicine, president of the British Geriatrics Society. Oliver will be joining the opening and closing half hours of the discussion

Discussion commissioned and controlled by the Guardian, funded by Specsavers

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