From Ageism to Age Equality: Addressing the Challenges ...

Rooting Out AgeDiscrimination in the NHS andSocial Care ServicesCraig Muir,Department of Health, LondonIntroductionWe cannot get away from the fact that we are living in an ageing society. This is, however,something we should celebrate: more people are living longer, healthier lives.44As we grow older we become more vulnerable to illness and combinations of illnesses, and theremay be far more to symptoms than meets the eye. Should we consider the special and complexneeds associated with ageing when determining care? Yes. Should we consider age itself as adeterminant of care? No. Age in itself should never be a determinant in decisions about access toinvestigation and treatment.Tackling Age DiscriminationIn the past, unfortunately, the complex nature of treating older people led many service providers toshy away from funding, planning for, developing and delivering services based on the needs of olderpeople; services that younger people with less complex needs would not be denied.In recent years, ridding health and social care services in England of age discriminatory practices andensuring that older people get the same access to high quality and timely health and social careservices as everyone else has been a central theme of our older people programme.The National Service Framework for Older PeopleThe National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People, launched in March 2001, recognised thatage discrimination in accessing health and social care did exist. It went on to say that discriminationshould not be tolerated and set out the actions needed to address it. Standard One of the NSF isdedicated to eliminating age discrimination. In the foreword to the NSF, Alan Milburn, then Secretaryof State for Health, noted that:Conference Proceedings