Older patients denied cancer treatment
Published on 01 March 2013 01:00 PM
Commenting on a report in today's Daily Express that doctors are denying cancer treatments to older patients because of their age, Age Cymru's Director of Influencing and Programme Development Victoria Lloyd says:
"Life expectancy rates of older people with cancer in the UK are currently significantly shorter than those of other European countries and this urgently needs to change.
"We know that older people can experience discrimination within the NHS and that the chances of receiving high quality care are all too often stacked against them.
"Age discrimination has now been outlawed in the NHS and an individual's date of birth should not be a means to determine their suitability for medical interventions.
"With the majority of people who use cancer services being older it is essential that these services are designed around them and are based on their needs."