Recently I heard reliable accounts of two Stroud GPs refusing older patients the operations they needed because of their age. Both are in good health and could sustain an operation.
One was forced to have a very expensive but totally successful operation in a private hospital. The other has to live with his condition.
Though age discrimination in the NHS is illegal, this is an ongoing concern. In 2012 a study led by the Royal College of Surgeons warned that older people are being denied vital surgery for cancer, hernia repairs and joint replacements because the NHS imposes "cutoffs" for treatment based on age discrimination. See the 2014 update:https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/news-and-events/media-centre/press-releases/age-still-a-barrier-to-surgery/
In April 2022 similar findings were published in articles reviewed here http://www.cpa.org.uk/information/readings/age_discrimination.pdf
Such refusals are inhumane and unlawful, causing un-necessary suffering or expense which many could not afford. They should be forcefully challenged.
Anne Haydock
Stroud
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