"Ageist" NHS failing older stroke victims
Stroke victims over 75 receive lower standard of care than younger patients, report claims
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Thursday, 16, Apr 2009 08:01
Older people who suffer strokes do not get the same standard of care as younger stroke victims because of endemic ageism in the NHS, researchers have claimed.
A team from the Mayday University Hospital, Croydon, found stroke victims over the age of 75 are less likely to be sent for potentially life-saving scans, or to receive lifestyle advice designed to minimise the risks of repeat strokes.
Patients younger than 75 were five times more likely to be given an MRI scan to check for blockages and internal bleeding which cause strokes. And while just over three quarters of older patients were given Doppler ultrasounds, which check the speed of the blood flow in the arteries which supply the brain, nine out of ten younger patients were scanned.
Younger patients were also much more likely to be given dietary and exercise tips to help make sure they were doing all they could to lower the risks of suffering secondary strokes.
The authors of the report, published today in the Postgraduate Medical Journal, concluded by calling for: "A change in the attitude of healthcare professionals… to root out ageism."
Michelle Mitchell, charity director for Age Concern and Help the Aged, said: "This is another shocking example of ageism in the NHS, resulting in older people being denied the care and treatment they need because they are deemed too old.
"Older people aren’t asking for special treatment, but the same access to healthcare and medicine as everyone else. Yet services often don’t meet the needs of our ageing society and many older patients are forced to do without.
"The government plans to use the forthcoming equality bill to bring an end to age discrimination, but until regulations to tackle ageism in the NHS are on the statute book, older people will continue to have their health put at risk and receive substandard treatment."