Medicine for an ageing population.

more prosperous lives. This is a great achievement reflecting long-term progress in improving standards of living and health through individual endeavour and social investment. More people are living longer after the age of 50 and each generation expects more from the future than their parents and grandparents. But our attitude to ageing and our public services have not yet caught up with the changing aspirations of older citizens or with the projected changes in society for the next decade. Ageing is therefore wrongly seen as a threat rather than an extension of opportunities for individuals and society as a whole. Older age is something to celebrate not to fear. Although medicine has been successful in fulfilling the needs of ageing populations in the past, we nevertheless face major challenges. This multidisciplinary conference held jointly with the British Geriatrics Society discussed ways to equip people to deal with these challenges in a knowledgeable and informal way.