Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales have claimed that the NHS in Wales and providers of care and housing may be “institutionally ageist”.
Speaking on BBC Wales’ The Politics Show its equalities manager claims that anecdotal evidence suggests an “abundance” of ageism in the public and private sectors. Martyn Jones said: “We have considerable evidence which concerns us about the possibility of there being institutional ageism in both policy and practice in the NHS in Wales but also in other service providers such as care providers, housing provision. There really is an abundance of this issue in all public service providers in Wales.”
He said that there seems to be some kind of analysis taking place during diagnosis within the health service that includes a cost-benefit element. He alleges that clinicians ask themselves ‘How much older is this person going to live if we go ahead and deliver this intervention? in a way they would not do so for younger people.
However, the NHS Confederation and the Royal College of Nursing in Wales questioned the claims. The director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, Tina Donnelly, said she doesn’t believe services are withheld from older people on the basis of cost. But she added that if older people think that’s the case, then such a perception is a problem in itself.
Ms Donnelly said: “I have never observed, in clinical practice, discrimination on the basis of cost.
“If patients are feeling that there is discrimination on the basis of cost, rather than on other reasons as to why surgery or similar treatments (are) not undertaken, then perhaps there isn’t sufficient time being given to explore the real reasons with those individuals and the medical and nursing staff as they are explaining the potential risks and outcomes.
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