The number of people over 75 has grown by 18% since 2017, yet fewer older people are receiving local authority long term care, according to the charity's research.

In 2022/23, over 540,000 people were receiving long term care from their council compared to more than 565,000 in 2017/18.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘Our fear is that unless this Government grasps the nettle of social care reform firmly and quickly, they will find it impossible to stabilise and strengthen the NHS either, to the enormous detriment of all of us but of older people, its principal client group, most of all.'

The report found the number of older people receiving local authority long term care had dropped from 565,240 in 2017/178 to 542,420 in 2022/23.

In addition, the charity found the number of GPs had not kept pace with the ageing population.

Social care is, meanwhile, struggling to fill vacancies in virtually every role with the number of district nurses falling by 17.5% between 2014 and 2023.

The report finds primary (GP) and community health services and social care are either simply inadequate in terms of availability or are insufficiently joined up and planned.

It makes a number of recommendations for the NHS and social care.

For the NHS, it says every Integrated Care Systems should have an Ageing Well Strategy, invest in GP practices, primary care and community services, introduce a public health strategy, expand the number of integrated neighbourhood teams, implement a strategy to clear waiting lists and implement the NHS Workforce Plan.

For social care, it calls for a comprehensive plan for reform, an immediate pay rise for care professionals, a right for five days' unpaid Carer's Leave and significantly increases to respite services for carers.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘Lord Darzi's report revealed the NHS is broken but not beaten. To fix this, we will develop a 10-year health plan centred on our three core shifts: from hospital to community; analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention.

‘We are committed to building a National Care Service, underpinned by national standards and delivered locally, to ensure that everyone can get the care they need. We will build consensus on long-term reform, and engage with a range of stakeholders, including cross-party and those with lived experience.'