Age Scotland 2020 Conference cancelled

Age Scotland has taken the difficult decision to cancel its national conference, in light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Chief executive, Brian Sloan, said: "As Scotland’s leading national charity for older people, we have a duty of care and responsibility to the people who would be attending, many of whom would be older and might have pre-existing chronic conditions that could put them at greater risk.

"Our conference, which was due to be held in Glasgow on March 25, is one of the highlights of the Age Scotland calendar and we did not take the decision lightly. But we have a wider responsibility to the general public and the NHS not to do anything that could possibly contribute to the spread of Covid-19.

"The priority must be the safety and wellbeing of our members, conference speakers, exhibitors and staff.

"We regret not having the opportunity to publicly celebrate the achievements of the past 12 months, but rest assured the Age Scotland award winners, who were due to be announced at the conference, will be recognised later in the year.

"In the meantime our work supporting older people goes on as we focus on helping people across Scotland get the most out of later life."