Feature: Interview - Lewis Wolpert talks to Gerald Isaaman

Published: 23 June, 2011
by GERALD ISAAMAN

WISDOM comes with old age, according to countless sages over the centuries. “My idea of hell is to be young again,” as one of them put it.

So perhaps the reason why the Coalition government is in such chaos is that, apart from Kenneth Clarke, now 70, Cameron and company are simply too young to understand that change itself is not the panacea they claim will bring us fairness and joy.

Indeed, all sense of trust in what is being proposed disappears totally when you dramatically backtrack, try to change the change you first thought of, and end up with muddle, which is currently the case with the NHS in particular.

So step forward Professor Lewis Wolpert, famed biologist, octogenarian resident of Belsize Park, who still cycles, plays tennis, and admits: “I even jog but walkers pass me.”

He is undoubtedly the guru government needs.

The evidence is to be found in his brilliant and enthralling new book, which he has sub-titled “The surprising nature of getting old” because, as he asks himself: “How can a 17-year-old, like me, suddenly be 81?”

The beauty is that you can slip it into your pocket and read on the bus or tube. For it contains the essence of so much common sense, let alone the wit and the wisdom of past civilisations, mythical Greek gods included, that perhaps No 10 ought to order a copy for every MP, GP and health administrator.

A veritable Bible indeed that deserves to be read, especially by the old, at a time when they are now under the Coalition’s cost-cutting cosh and do not appreciate what political power they hold within their collective hands.

“Older people are by far the biggest users of the NHS, yet they often experience a second-rate service which does not meet their needs,” Wolpert tells me, pointing to recent press reports on how hospitals are failing to provide the most basic standards of care.

“In some cases, the NHS failed to ensure the patients had adequate food, drink and basic sanitary care,” he says. “In others, poor pain control, inadequate discharge arrangements and poor communication caused enormous distress and suffering.”

He agrees with the health ombudsman that the NHS must close the gap between the promise of care and compassion and the injustice that many older people experience, and adds: “Considering how common and damaging dementia is, it is shocking just 5 per cent of hospitals in England and Wales require staff to undertake specialist dementia training.

“There is evidence that nearly 400,000 older people living in care homes face real difficulty accessing GP and primary care services. Abuse, lack of cleanliness and poor nutrition have also been uncovered.”

He demands greater support for jobseekers and those in employment who want to change careers later in their working lives.

“Negative perceptions of older workers still persist and age discrimination is still common, especially in recruitment,” he protests. “It is essential to ensure that the old can be kept warm in winter.”

But Wolpert’s book is not a polemic about a failed democratic system some feel no longer fit for purpose. 

It too is warm and wonderful and full not only of delight but of scientific wonders future generations may yet enjoy.

The possibility exists, for instance, that we could all live to be at least 400 or more. Changes in the genes of model organisms such as worms, the fruit fly and mouse can extend their lifespan fivefold, the equivalent in a humans living to a maximum lifespan of 600 years.

How long would we like to live?

“Polls show that on average people want to live to about 90, though some 15 per cent had no idea how long they wished to live,” Wolpert writes. 

“Many were rightly very concerned about health as they aged, and one half, for example, feared the inability to drive their car.”

His research shows that happiness peaks at around 74 and that most people want to die at home but rarely do. There is no good evidence either that we actually die of old age, which is rarely put on a death certificate.

“In the US the use of these words is forbidden,” he says. “Then there is the question of the best way for the old to die. Suicide is not uncommon, but euthanasia would be far preferable and the law preventing it must be changed.”

And when it comes to politics, 7 out of 10 people aged 65 and over believe politicians see older people as a low priority when, in fact, more care is needed and much of it moved into the community while pensioner poverty has to end, all forms of discrimination ended to ensure that older people can access better quality care and support.

“It is the major problem for the 21st century,” he insists. 

And we all know Wolpert is absolutely right.

• You’re Looking Very Well: the surprising nature of getting old. By Lewis Wolpert. Faber £14.99