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

problem. Hence the public awareness campaign, Say No to Ageism, which the partners supporting itsee very much as only a first step. Awareness of ageism must begin among policy-makers and thosewho manage services of critical importance to the welfare of older people, including the health andsocial services. We must look to them to develop and implement strategies to combat ageism in theirsectors.The organisers of this seminar count themselves most fortunate that Craig Muir from the UKDepartment of Health was able to brief us on Standard One of the NSF for Older People, Rooting OutAge Discrimination. We have much to learn from this strategy, not least that it demonstrates arecognition of the problem and a vision and determination at departmental and senior healthservices management level to ensure that older people are never unfairly discriminated against inaccessing NHS or social care services because of their age. This must also happen in this country.Acknowledging ageism and age discrimination in health and social care services is one thing; doingsomething about them is another. Here, too, we are fortunate to be able to learn from theexperience of auditing age discrimination and tackling it at management and grassroots levels inEngland, as described by Ros Levenson. The King’s Fund guide and the Toolkit for Older People’sChampions will undoubtedly be important leads for us to follow in our efforts to address ageism ingeneral and age discrimination in particular in our health and social care services.Developing the Age Equality AgendaRichard Baker from the organisation AGE gave us a European perspective. He briefed us on Europeandevelopments relating to discrimination, from Article 13 of the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty to today viathe 2000 framework Directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation and this year’s slimGreen Paper on Equality and Non-Discrimination in an Enlarged European Union.71We look forward to AGE’s December 2004 report which will look at evidence of age discriminationbeyond employment. We also note the importance of last week’s European Council decision to lookat universal access, and fairness and solidarity in healthcare as part of the open method ofcoordination in the field of health and long-term care.Niall Crowley of The Equality Authority gave us a comprehensive briefing on the current status ofrecommendations made in Implementing Equality for Older People. While it is clear that someprogress has been made, particularly on the legislative front, much remains to be done in addressingupper age limits where there is no justification for them, and in implementing the recommendationsmade on policy-making (10), working (13), income (6) health and community services (18), andlifelong learning (12). Some of these reiterate recommendations long called for by the Council andother agencies. Some touch directly on matters of age awareness training, equality of opportunityand equality of access. While we should seek to ensure that all of these recommendations areimplemented, in the context of this conference we must particularly emphasise thoserecommendations relating to age discrimination, age abuse, access to core community care servicesand access to long-stay residential services for those who need them, and, most importantly, qualityof services for the frail and chronically ill.From Ageism to Age Equality: Addressing the Challenges