This, the inevitable result of a pay-as-you-go system in an ageing population, is the cause of the programme's long-term financial problems.

ECONOMIST: Social Security reform ventures out in the open

Few are more vexed in ageing Britain than how to pay for long-term care for the elderly.

ECONOMIST: The answer is postponed once again

There is also widespread concern about the long-term costs of today's fiscal props for a rapidly ageing economy.

ECONOMIST: Rebalancing the world economy: Germany

OECD, Mandeep Bains and Howard Oxley, Ageing-related Spending Projections on Health and Long-term Care, 2003.

ECONOMIST: Sources and acknowledgements

But the RCN says it can see no justification for a decline in nursing numbers at a time of increasing demand for care, with an ageing population, and growing numbers or patients with long-term conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease.

BBC: Nurses warn of 'workforce crisis' in NHS

The ageing population and advances in medicine mean more and more people are living with chronic long-term conditions, such as heart disease and dementia, for which there is no cure.

BBC: Stafford Hospital: the scandal that shames the NHS