Older people 'suffer ageism' in health and social services

Ageism in Ireland’s health and social services is a reality, a report said today.

The study for the National Council on Ageing and Older People (NCAOP) found “concrete examples of prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory practices” experienced by the elderly or witnessed by health and social care providers.

The council said it was beyond the scope of the study to discover the exact scale of ageism encountered by older people in Irish health and social services, but said it was a “first step” towards auditing age discrimination.

The research, whih drew on interviews with 456 older people and 150 health care staff, found that older people were afraid of becoming ill, being a burden on their families, having to go into institutional care and having a lack of money.

Eileen McGlone, senior researcher for QE5, which conducted the study, said older people were faced with a number of problems accessing health care services, including staff shortages and a tendency for GPs to concentrate on symptom management instead of treatment.

“For intensive care beds, the perception was out there that priority would be given to a younger person than an older person,” Ms McGlone said.

Older people were also faced with age limits on services – for example, the age restriction on breast cancer screening is 65 across the country, while the report found that in one health board the cut-off point for cardiac treatment was 82 years.

Older people faced difficulty attending appointments due to lack of transport, and elderly patients in hospitals were referred to as “bed blockers”, the report found.

Ageism – which refers to deeply-rooted negative beliefs about older people and ageing, and which may lead to discrimination – was the result of a fear of growing old and the emphasis on youth culture and economic productivity, the report said.

Ageism in the health and social services was “indirect and implicit”, the council’s chairwoman Eibhlin Byrne said.

She called for legislation to ensure that older people were treated equally.

“We feel strongly that a more integrated service to older people would allow them to remain longer in their own communities,” she added.

She also demanded that elder abuse was taken seriously.

“Is elder abuse any less of a crime than child abuse?” she said.

Mamo McDonald, from the Age and Opportunity organisation, said she had personally experienced prejudice because of her age.

She said that after being examined by a registrar for arthritis she was told: “Of course, Ms McDonald, this has got more to do with your vintage than anything else.”

Ms McDonald said she had been waiting four years for another appointment, which she had been told would take four weeks.

She called for greater respect for the rights of older people, for couples to be accommodated together in care and for privacy for people in hospitals when they were dying.

Responding to the report on ageism, Minister for Health Mary Harney said older people deserved to be treated with dignity and respect within the health services.

Speaking from Geneva – where she is attending the World Health Assembly – Ms Harney said the report’s findings would be studied by the Health Service Executive, which has statutory responsibility for providing health services.

“I am committed to ensuring that older people, who have contributed to the development of our society, are treated with dignity and respect when receiving healthcare services, regardless of age.

“The Department of Health is committed to promoting healthy ageing and to promoting an age-friendly society,” the Tánaiste said.