Almost half of doctors who care for older people believe the NHS is "institutionally ageist", according to a poll.

Half of doctors believe NHS is 'institutionally ageist'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"A total of 47 per cent thought the NHS was ageist while 55 per cent said they were worried themselves about how the NHS would treat them in old age.

The survey, of 201 doctors who specialise in caring for older people and are members of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS), was carried out for the charity Help the Aged.

More than six in 10 (66 per cent) doctors agreed that, in their experience, older people were less likely to have their symptoms fully investigated.

Meanwhile, 72 per cent thought older people were less likely to be considered for, or referred for, essential treatments like neural surgery or chemotherapy.

More than three-quarters (77 per cent) were also in favour of laws preventing age discrimination in the NHS."

Dr Max Pemberton reflects on the disrespect towards old people which he says is endemic in our society

Finger on the pulse
Article by Dr Max Pemberton in the Telegraph

Extract:

"If Age Concern objects to the semiotics of a hunched back and walking stick to depict residents of care homes, presumably they would rather an image that more accurately reflects older people in institutions.

Should the signs depict an elderly demented woman tied to a chair while staff ignore her? Or an elderly man in bed, slowly starving as his food tray is placed slightly out of reach day after day? Or people going blind because primary care trusts won't fund the medication to save their sight?

This is the plight of the elderly in hospitals and homes up and down Britain, and it's this that Age Concern should be concentrating on. I'm not sure how you'd capture these images in a sign that was easily readable at 30 miles an hour, but if you could, they would certainly make you slow down and think."

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Report demands law to protect elderly people in hospitals and care homes

A catalogue of abuse: report demands law to protect elderly in hospitals and care homes - Guardian

Extract:

"Vulnerable elderly people are being subjected to neglect, abuse, discrimination and ill-treatment in the hospitals and care homes that should be looking after them, according to a report published today by a parliamentary committee.

The study by the joint committee on human rights warns that many older people are facing maltreatment ranging from physical neglect so severe they are left lying in their own faeces or urine to malnutrition and dehydration through lack of help with eating.

Lack of dignity, especially for personal care needs, inappropriate medication designed more to subdue patients than treat them, and over-hasty discharge from hospital are also causing suffering for many older people, the MPs and peers conclude.

The report, the most high-level to date to highlight disturbing levels of neglect and abuse of the elderly in Britain, argues that the law should be strengthened to compel hospitals and care homes to protect the human rights of older people in their care.

The committee says that "an entire culture change" is needed to ensure that patients and staff who work with them are aware of their basic human rights. While there have been some recent signs of progress in policy and guidance, the rhetoric has not translated into practice on the ground, the report concludes.

It criticises the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice for failing to give leadership and guidance to providers of health and residential care. While overt age discrimination has reduced in hospitals and care homes, it still persists "in more subtle and indirect ways than in the past", says the report, which also criticises government moves to allow organisations to investigate complaints against them themselves.

The committee chairman, Andrew Dismore, said: "Neglect and ill-treatment of the elderly is a severe abuse of human rights. It is a serious betrayal of trust by the very people upon whom older people depend for care." Charities strongly backed the study, branding the treatment of elderly people in some hospitals and care homes scandalous and shameful."

A government consultation paper aims to change and rationalise some of the UK's discrimination legislation, e.g. relating to golf club membership.

Equality bill set to curb golf club discrimination - Guardian

Extract:

"Golf clubs and other private members' establishments will no longer be able to ban women members from their bars or discriminate in any other way on gender grounds under a shakeup of equality laws unveiled today.

The change is outlined in a government consultation paper aimed at rationalising the UK's complex web of discrimination legislation, some of which dates back 40 years, and introducing new protection for some groups.

Planned reforms include compelling private landlords to put in ramps and stairlifts for disabled tenants who request it, although the tenant would have to pay.

Changes to rules affecting private clubs and associations would mean those with mixed membership could no longer treat women differently.

Some golf clubs give female members limited access to club facilities or bar them from the running of the club.

The Carlton Club, the Conservative party's gentleman's club of choice, rejected a move last month to elevate women from "half member" status to full membership.

A source at the Department of Communities and Local Government, which is publishing today's green paper, said: "We firmly believe that people being treated as second class citizens when a club is open to all is simply not on."

However, in a move that will spare gentlemen's clubs without female members and the few remaining all-male working men's clubs, the government will also make clear it will not prevent the setting up of private clubs aimed solely at one gender or group.

While women's groups are expected to welcome the reform, campaigners believe the government must go far further in tackling more fundamental equality issues."

It is so much more important to outlaw the sex discrimination within the medical profession, that results in a woman with the same symptoms (e.g. of heart disease) as a man, finding that she is less likely to be physically examined and less likely to be offered tests and/or treatment than a man. Medics are inclined to regard a woman's reported physical symptoms as imaginary/psychogenic/exaggerated/hypochondriacal, etc despite their physicality, and this is very damaging to women's health. There is a wealth of research that bears this out, but nothing is done to legislate against this harmful practice. We all, male and female, pay taxes that fund the health service, but women usually get an inferior service.

Similarly, the most damaging ageism is practised by health professionals. - It is so blatant as to be a national scandal and it intermittently receives widespread coverage in the press. - But we still lack legislation to outlaw it.

Many doctors are also, in practice, discriminating against disabled people, e.g. people with learning difficulties, and this too tends to get quite widely reported, but nothing is done to prevent it by law.

How does equal membership of a golf club matter compare in importance to equality of access to appropriate health care and equal courtesy from our grossly overpaid, prejudiced medical profession?


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Older people are often denied medical treatment because of age discrimination.

Medical treatment 'denied to older people' - Telegraph

Extract:

"The report "Age of equality? Outlawing age discrimination beyond the work place" said these in-built discriminatory regulations, as well as unfair practices and ageist attitudes, meant older people often receive reduced care.

Calling for legislation to promote equality, Gordon Lishman, the director general of Age Concern, said: "Older people can be openly and unfairly discriminated against because of their age. It means they can be denied life-saving or life-enhancing treatment.""

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Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)