Elderly 'failed' by NHS
Elderly 'failed' by NHS
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Monday, 27, Mar 2006 03:32
Old people are being failed by the NHS, despite the fact that they use health services across England the most, a new report has found.
An influential joint report by the Healthcare Commission, the Audit Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection claims that elderly people are often ignored when public services are organised and have little input in planning and development.
Carried out halfway through the government's ten-year plan to improve services for people over the age of 50, the report said that progress has generally been slow.
Some services have improved since the National Service Framework for Older People was published in March 2001, but all of the ten communities across England who featured in the report had failed to reach government targets.
The planning of public transport and the low priority give to podiatry and footcare services were areas of particular concern to the report's authors, as a lack of adequate provision resulted in older people "losing mobility" and becoming "socially isolated".
"Older people are the biggest users of healthcare, occupying almost two thirds of our hospital beds yet they continue to be a low priority in both the planning and development of our health service," Anna Walker, the Healthcare Commission's chief executive, said.
"The challenge now is to provide much better care for older people closer to home. Health and social care organisations and local authorities need to work better together on behalf of older people."
She added that the Healthcare Commission will be monitoring the health service's "progress against national targets", as part of its new "annual health check", in order to check that the situation improves.
Steve Bundred, chief executive of the Audit Commission, added: "Our findings show that progress has been patchy and services are not as well co-ordinated as they should be.
"Additionally, older people do not feel they are given a voice in shaping the way services are delivered."
Campaigners have reacted with concern to the findings, with Paul Cann, director of policy at Help the Aged, saying the charity was alarmed that "the very system designed to remedy past failures in the care given to older people could itself fail in such key areas".
"That we allow our elders to suffer at a time they need help most, stifled by a inequitable system, cannot be condoned," he added.