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Making a crude assumption that everyone from 15 to 64 is at work and everyone over 65
retired, it is plain that the numbers of pensionable age are steadily rising while there is a
corresponding fall in the numbers of working age people available to support or care for their
needs. Expressing this ratio in terms of percentage we have:-

To these figures for dependents must be added those under 15,48,900 in 1971. The effect
of raising the school leaving age with increased opportunities for further education is to increase
this figure to between 33% and 36% of the working population, and there is no reason to suppose
it will not go on rising. Meanwhile the prospects of increasing survival among the elderly
continued to improve. Cancer is an important cause of death among this age group; of the total of
627 cancer deaths in Waltham Forest during 1972 almost 69%, 429, occurred at ages over 65,217
of them at 75 or over. Progress in cancer research is advancing rapidly, already animals have
been successfully immunised so as to reject implanted cancer which would certainly kill the
unprotected animal and it cannot be long before means are found of arousing or stimulating the
ability to destroy malignant cells in man - a great boon which nevertheless will bring problems.
As the percentage of workers in a population falls it becomes increasingly important to
protect them from illness and premature death. Many large firms find it sound economics to engage
a staff doctor who saves much more than his salary by reducing absenteeism. Already the Offices,
Shops and Railway Premises Act prescribes satisfactory working conditions for all employees
similar to those imposed by the Factories Acts upon industry. In January 1973 the "appointed
factory doctor" is to be replaced by the Employment Medical Advisory Service which will extend
the supervision of the health of factory workers to all employed young people. Increased facilities
for healthy exercise and, it is hoped, a greatly expanded Health Education Service can make
positive contributions to preserving the health of this most valuable group of people.
Despite our best efforts, and the increasing use of automated machinery in reducing
manpower needs, the problems posed by the inexorable increase of pensioners continue to grow.
Already the original raison d'etre for the health visitor - maternal and child welfare - has been
over-shadowed by the need to oversee the health of the elderly and this despite the parallel
activity of the social workers.
The whole system of retirement at 65 (60 for women) should be reviewed. To demand
maximum output from all workers, be they dustman on productivity bonus or directors working a
14 hour day until their 65th birthday, and then disrupting their whole life style by suddenly
withdrawing all work may be sound economically (though I doubt it) but physiologically and
psychologically it equates with stopping your car by driving it at full speed into a brick wall. Far
better to work half time from 64 to 66 or to work at reduced pressure dropping half or one day a
week each year from 60 or even 55. Retired people should be given opportunities and encouragement
to prepare for this radical change by developing interests and activities outside the work scene.
At the same time those who are fit enough should take up light work part time. The financial
implications of such a scheme would be formidable but the benefit to the individual and to the
community would be enormous. Already the Council runs a pre-retirement course for their own
employees - other large employers should do the same. Age is a bad yardstick by which to gauge
a person's ability to work; some are active and mentally alert at 80, others fossilised at 40.
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