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RETIREMENT

OAP FURY AT NHS AGEISM

Should the latest medicines should be given to younger patients over the elderly?

Wednesday April 9,2008

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CAMPAIGNERS last night warned pensioners could be denied life-saving drugs, as they railed against a "creeping ageism" in Scotland's health service.

The warning came as the head of the country's drug watchdog has called for a debate on whether the latest medicines should be given to younger patients over the elderly.

Dr Ken Paterson, chairman of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) - which advises health boards on which new treatments to prescribe - said the issue needed to be openly discussed.

Dr Paterson had described public events where audiences were asked to choose between two medicines of equal cost and effectiveness, but which helped patients at different stages of life. He said: "Every audience has voted to buy the drug for a young person. The evidence is people are willing to be ageist."

His comments follow a row sparked by Church of Scotland minister Reverend Maxwell Craig, who is Extra Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland. He claimed the elderly should be allowed to die so funds could be used to help the young.

Dr Paterson said a rough poll conducted during public events he had attended appeared to back diverting NHS money to the young.

But last night charities for the elderly claimed his comments were opening the door to discrimination in the NHS. Age Concern Scotland said it was disappointed by the remarks and a spokesman said: "Having contributed to the NHS throughout their working lives, it is unfair for older people to now be questioned about their right to get the same quality of health care as others who are younger."

Help the Aged spokesman Lindsay Scott said: "Once you start discriminating on the basis of age or disability or on other things, you are starting down a very slippery slope indeed. There is already a creeping ageism in the NHS."

Last night Lib Dem MSP Jeremy Purves, who led a debate last month in the parliament on assisted suicide, agreed ageism in NHS spending was a dangerous route.

He add: "We need care and support for people coming to the end of their life. Saying that money should be diverted away for younger people is a dangerous argument."