# data[].attributes.body
Losing a job because of their age.

Being refused interest-free credit, a new credit
card, car insurance or travel insurance because of their age.

Receiving a lower quality of service in a shop
or restaurant because of the organisation’s attitude to older people.

Not being eligible for benefits such as
Disability Living Allowance due to age limits.

Being refused a referral from a doctor to a
consultant because you are ‘too old’.

Being refused membership to a club or trade
association because of your age.

# data[].attributes.body
Ageism is the most widely experienced form of discrimination across Europe

35% of people feel they are treated unfairly because of their age which is higher than sex (25%) or race (17%)

# data[].attributes.body
It is seen that Britain have one of the worst
records in Europe on age discrimination as nearly two out of five people claim to have been shown a lack of respect because of how old they are.

29% of people reported that they suffer from age
discrimination more than anything else and from the age of 55 onwards people are twice as likely to have experienced ageism.

One in three respondents felt that over 70s are viewed as incompetent and incapable.

# data[].attributes.body
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7850881.stm

# data[].attributes.headline
UK among UK among Europe's worst countries for ageism 

# data[].attributes.subject
UK among UK among Europe's worst countries for ageism 

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/oct/30/ageism-european-social-survey

# data[].attributes.body
NHS accused of age discrimination over lifesaving surgery - The
study found that while people's health needs increase as they grow older, rates
of planned surgery for some common conditions among older people steadily
decline. Life expectancy is 78 for men and 82 for women. Yet men and women who
need a new hip or knee, usually owing to arthritis or a fall, are most likely
to get one up to the age of 75.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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, a report has warned.

Health professionals can be too quick to decide against offering surgery because of "outdated assumptions of age and fitness", according to the study by the Royal College of Surgeons, the charity Age UK and communications consultancy MHP Health Mandate. Doctors and surgeons should stop using chronological age to assess suitability for a procedure and instead use their "biological age", or overall health, because growing life expectancy and the increasingly good health of senior citizens make birth date alone redundant as the deciding factor, it says.

The study found that while people's health needs increase as they grow older, rates of planned surgery for some common conditions among older people steadily decline. "The gap between the increasing health need and access to surgery means many older people are missing out on potentially lifesaving treatment," concludes the study, which details the variation by age group in patterns of treatment for eight types of surgery.

"It is alarming to think the treatment a patient receives may be influenced by their age," said Professor Norman Williams, president of the Royal College of Surgeons. While there are often valid explanations why older patients decide not to have surgery or are recommended non-surgical treatment, he said: "The key is that it is a decision based on the patient rather than how old they are that matters."

The report details "barriers" to older people receiving surgery, including that "some symptoms can be dismissed as an inevitable part of ageing rather than a potential sign of ill-health. This can mean a disease is at a more advanced stage by the time they are diagnosed, ruling out surgical treatment". Equally, some older patients' overall health may mean the risks of having a procedure outweigh the benefits.

The report takes doctors and surgeons to task for letting outdated attitudes influence their decision-making about older people's eligibility for surgery. "The clinical benefit of providing treatment may be questioned when relative life expectancy is shorter," it says.

Communication with older patients to discuss risks and benefits can be limited or ineffective. Conflation of chronological and biological age "means decisions may not always be made on the basis of a comprehensive and objective assessment but on a series of assumptions about fitness in older age".

While the incidence of breast cancer is highest in women aged 85 and over, surgery peaks among those in their mid-60s and declines sharply from 70. Similarly, rates of surgery for prostate cancer, which kills 10,000 men a year, do not reflect the number of older men being diagnosed with the disease.

Life expectancy is 78 for men and 82 for women. Yet men and women who need a new hip or knee, usually owing to arthritis or a fall, are most likely to get one up to the age of 75 but less likely to do so after that, even though National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) guidelines to the NHS say age should not influence whether someone has that surgery, given its benefits.

Joint replacements appear to be increasingly restricted as the NHS rations treatments in an attempt to save £20bn by 2015. That financial pressure could mean older people are disproportionately affected by this trend in coming years, the report warns.

The gap between the number of people living with a condition or health need and the rates of surgery among older people should make surgeons and other health professionals rethink their attitudes to treatment for senior citizens, said Michelle Mitchell, charity director general at Age UK. "When it comes to people's health their date of birth actually tells you very little. A healthy 80-year-old could literally run rings round someone many years younger who does not share the same good health.

"Yet in the past too many medical decisions we believe have been made on age alone with informal 'cutoffs' imposed so that people over a certain age were denied treatment."

Such practices are now illegal. In June, the government said denying drugs or treatments on the grounds of age would be outlawed from this month, meaning older people may be able to sue the NHS to challenge decisions they feel are discriminatory because of their age.

"A new legal framework to outlaw age discrimination in the NHS cements our moral duty of care to older patients and sends a clear signal to the NHS to deliver the best care and support to every patient in line with his or her needs," the report notes.

The Department of Health said the NHS should not deny patients treatment because of their age. "There should be absolutely no place in the NHS for assumptions about entitlement to treatment that are based on age or any other form of unjustified discrimination," said Dan Poulter, the health minister. "All patients should be treated as individuals, with dignity and respect, and receive care that meets their healthcare needs irrespective of their age.

"The government is committed to providing dignity in elderly care, and at the beginning of October we introduced an age discrimination ban, which means that all patients will receive a more personalised care service, based on their individual needs, not their age."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NHS accused of age discrimination over lifesaving surgery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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, a report has warned. Health professionals can be too quick to decide against offering surgery because of "outdated assumptions of age and fitness", according to the study by the Royal College of Surgeons, the charity Age UK and communications consultancy MHP Health Mandate.

# data[].attributes.body
60% of older people in the UK agree that age discrimination exists in the daily lives of older people.

# data[].attributes.body
Breast cancer survival data shows age discrimination, experts warn - Charities warn that older women with breast cancer are having their lives cut  short because of "appalling" age discrimination which means treatment is  less likely.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While 53 per cent of those with diagnosed at stage three cancer were alive in England five years on, in Belgium the figure is 65 per cent, rising to 72 per cent in Portugal.

The findings, presented to the European Cancer Congress in Vienna on Sunday disclose stark variations between countries in the levels of treatment offered.

The study of six countries showed women in Belgium were the most likely to receive radiotherapy after reaching stage three of disease, while patients in Poland were the most likely to receive chemotherapy.

British studies have shown that the chance of receiving cancer treatment reduce sharply with age.

Women with breast cancer have a 77 per cent chance of having surgery if they are between the ages of 55 and 74, national data shows.

But during the next decade, the chance falls to 65 per cent, and by the age of 85, just one in three women undergoes surgery.

Last year research found 17 areas which had carried out no breast cancer surgery on women over the age of 75 in the previous year.

This is despite legislation which came into force in three years ago making it illegal for NHS staff to deny surgery to patients on the basis of age alone.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK said: "It is appalling that survival rates in older sufferers of breast cancer are so bad in the UK.

"This research once again demonstrates that older people's chances of receiving high quality care are all too often stacked against them.

Cancer in numbers

"We know from our own research that access to cancer treatment drops off dramatically after the age of 75, even though a third of all cancers are diagnosed above this age. All older people with cancer and should be treated as the individuals they are and offered the best treatment available, according to their needs.

"Sadly, is hard to avoid the conclusion that when it comes to cancer treatment, ageism is alive and well in the UK today. That is totally unacceptable in an advanced nation like ours and must change."

Forty per cent of new breast cancer cases occur in patients aged 65 and older, with the chance of disease increasing with age.

With increasing life expectancy and an ageing population, this percentage is expected to rise.

However, most studies about breast cancer have focussed on younger patients, meaning that until now, there has been little reliable evidence about the benefits of treatment for older women.

Doctors are sometimes reluctant to offer treatment to older patients because they have a higher risk of complications.

They are also more likely to suffer from other diseases, which has made it more difficult to show measure treatment success rates.

The new findings show that the countries which offered more treatment to older patients had higher survival rates, both for those diagnosed early and late.

Dr Marloes Berks, from Leiden University Medical Center, who led the study, said: "The countries that gave more treatment - surgery, endocrine therapy and chemotherapy - had better survival rates - there was a strong association."

Experts said too often, doctors were taking decisions based on a patient's date of birth rather than a proper assessment of their physical strength, and likely response to surgery.

Jagtar Dhanda, from Macmillan Cancer Support said: "Research shows that too often older people don't appear to get access to treatment when they need it.

"This is, in part, because assessment methods for treatment are frequently inadequate, leaving healthcare professionals to assess older cancer patients on their age, when they should be assessing their physical and mental status."

He said in some cases, older people missed out on treatment because they had no one to take them to hospital, or care for them afterwards.

"These are just some of the possible reasons England has some of the worst survival rates in Europe, and why survival rates for older people lag even more drastically behind," he said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Breast cancer survival data shows age discrimination, experts warn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While 53 per cent of those with diagnosed at stage three cancer were alive in England five years on, in Belgium the figure is 65 per cent, rising to 72 per cent in Portugal. The findings, presented to the European Cancer Congress in Vienna on Sunday disclose stark variations between countries in the levels of treatment offered.

# data[].attributes.body
Ageism is discrimination or unfair treatment based on a person’s age. It can impact on someone’s confidence, job prospects, financial situation and quality of life.