The number of babies born in Oxfordshire, 9,041 last year, has grown by about three per cent each year for the past decade, according to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust runs the county’s major hospitals. Spokesman Stephanie Clark said: “The trust has increased its staffing levels to reflect the increase in births.”

At the other end of the scale, with 5,200 additional over-90s living in the county, compared with a decade ago, Age UK Oxfordshire chief executive Paul Cann said more people would require help for disabilities and disease, with over-80s having a one-in-five risk of dementia.

He said: “There are likely to be increasing pressures on the care system for this growing population to support them and give them dignified care.”

One of the places which provides the specialised care needed by older people is Vale House in Sandford, just outside Oxford, which recently moved to a new 40-bed building and has a waiting list for places.

The home’s manager Tricia O’Leary said: “We already know Oxfordshire has more than the average number of older people living here, because it is an attractive place where people come to retire.”

Such care is costly – £870 per week at Vale House, with half the beds paid for by the county council and half by patients or their families.

NHS Oxfordshire spokesman Emily Macdonald said: “The ageing population in Oxfordshire is a challenge that has been highlighted by the director of public health in recent years and health and social care services have been planning for how to organise care in response.”

She said the trust aimed to help people lead healthy lifestyles, to reduce their risk of being unwell, and bring health services closer to where people live.

The county council cabinet member for adult social care, Arash Fatemian, said money had been put aside in previous years to cater for the extra pressures on services supported by the council.

He said: “We fully expected this to happen and have put extra money in for resources year on year.

“If people are living longer, they will require social care for longer or, as they get older, require these services for the first time.”