Poor, older people living in almshouses enjoy longer lives than far wealthier people living elsewhere, a study has found.

The secret to longer life has been intensely sought after for centuries. But research using data from almshouses going back 100 years has found that the solution devised in early medieval times to help poverty-stricken knights returning from the Crusades is still relevant today.

The report from the Bayes Business School says the longevity of those who move into one of the UK’s 30,000 almshouses – the oldest form of social housing – is boosted by as much as two and a half years.

Given that residents typically move into almshouses in their early 70s, this is equivalent to an extra 15% of future life.

Early intervention and prevention need to become a reality, he says [David Oliver – President of the British Geriatrics Society]. “We’ve got to do a lot more to prevent avoidable ill-health in older age,” he says. “I sit before you as a man in his late 40s, who’s overweight and doesn’t look after himself very well. If I don’t lose weight, I will end up with diabetes or hypertension or arthritis and it’s entirely preventable.”

This involves investing more in public health initiatives and in more “age-friendly” housing and by not dodging the big decisions that would make a difference, he argues. “The current government and Public Health England have ducked some interventions – we know that minimum alcohol pricing works, that plain cigarette packaging has been successful in Australia, that reducing sugar in soft drinks and reducing salt work and we know food labelling and things like banning trans-fats can work.”

Then there’s the issue of joining up services – everything from primary care offering older patients one point of contact to co-ordinate their complex medical and care needs, to better working in hospitals so patients can be discharged more quickly. But it’s unrealistic to expect older people’s health needs to be fully met in the community.