The implications of the imminent surge in population ageing for the work of health care services in high-income countries remain unclear. It is widely expected, however, that the prevention and management of chronic disease will increasingly dominate their workload, and that this is likely to require a major shift in the way that care is delivered. This paper argues that the central contribution of health care services to a healthy ageing strategy is to drive improvements in the prevention and management of chronic disease, and it explores some of the implications of this view in the light of evidence mainly from the UK.
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