Press Release

BMA survey on healthcare for older people - Help the Aged response

12 May 2008
 
Responding to the news that a survey from the British Medical Association that eight out of ten doctors believe that healthcare services for older people are not good enough, Charlotte Potter, Senior Health Policy Officer at Help the Aged comments:
 
"While this survey is deeply disappointing, these results will not come as a surprise to older NHS patients.
 
"The Department of Health has already acknowledged* that there are deep-rooted negative attitudes and behaviours towards older people and these are at the heart of failure to provide decent services for them. 
 

"Ageism manifests itself in lack of appropriate funding and specialist services for older people, which results in many services failing to meet their needs and provide adequate quality of health care.
 
"The Help the Aged 'Just Equal Treatment' campaign has highlighted the rampant age discrimination faced by older people, and called for a complete ban on age discrimination and a new duty on public bodies to promote age equality, as part of the Equality Bill which was promised in Labour's last election manifesto. The campaign has cited examples of age discrimination in all areas of everyday life - from hospital to the high street - and has recently published a selection of personal stories from older people affected by age discrimination, including some for whom ageist assumptions and practices nearly meant the difference between life and death."
 
*Department of Health, "A new ambition for old age" (2006).

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