Later life Talkback - 24

Why we need to grumble more 

It’s hardly comes as a surprise, but a recent report from the King’s Fund Centre provides a few home truths about age discrimination in the health services and in social care. (Don’t switch off now - this is of vital importance to you and me, our parents and our children. We’re all going to get old.)

The report, called Old Habits Die Hard, shows that managers in NHS and social care organisations are not too good at preventing discrimination on the grounds of age. This is not because they are wicked, thoughtless, prejudiced people. It is because they don’t have resources, training opportunities and the wherewithal to contact older people in the community to see how they’d like things to be handled. 

Do we, for instance, prefer dedicated or integrated wards? Are we aware of our rights? How do we and they define ageist behaviour? 

The odd thing is that we do have some new and noble plans from the Government.  They are called The National Service Framework for Older People (NSF) and if you want to know what they are about, PRESS HERE. They are, briefly, a set of ‘best practice’ aims and objectives for health and social services for the older population, especially in terms of combining the two.

The report, Old Habits Die Hard, is based on a telephone survey of 75 senior managers in hospitals, community trusts and social services departments. They say they lack the practical tools to combat age discrimination, feel unsure about how to identify it, and question whether age-related policies and practices are ever justifiable.

The report concludes that there is a ‘daunting legacy of old habits to tackle - custom and practice which had evolved rather than been planned’ along with ageism generally.

But it doesn’t leave us free from blame. ‘There was little public pressure, with few complaints from older people and their families about care and treatment, and modest expectations (the italics are mine) among older people themselves.’

Culturally, then, we are all ageist, though there is some hope that future generations will be more demanding of better care.

The King’s Fund, an independent charity concerned with health education, is calling for a number of recommendations, including the need to define and detect ageism, invest in staff education and implement age-equality legislation.

Meanwhile, do complain about problems small and big, to your local health authority, social services or other relevant organisations if you or a relative have a bad  experience.

Sometimes a few polite words to a manager, say, of a residential home about an elderly parent, will put things right. But if things get serious, put your points in writing and send them to the highest authority.

This way, we can help change things. 

Old Habits Die Hard: Tackling age discrimination in health and social care, by Emilie Roberts and Linda Seymour, is available from the King's Fund bookshop on 020 7307 2591 or at www.kingsfund.org.uk/bookshop, price £6.99.  A summary version is also on the King's Fund web site.