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Gordon Lishman‚ Director General of Age Concern England‚ said:

NHS Review
“Shifting the focus of the NHS away from a target driven culture to one that listens and respects the views and experiences of service users makes good sense for everyone.

“Older people are the biggest users of the NHS‚ yet services are not currently set up to meet their needs.  Measuring performance based on what older people think will help to improve the quality of care they receive. 

“Putting compassion at the heart of NHS reforms should ensure that older people are treated with dignity and respect.”

NHS Constitution
“Treating patients‚ especially older people with compassion should be basic practice for all NHS staff.  To deliver this‚ the planned NHS constitution needs to be explicitly based on promoting human rights and stamping out ageism in the NHS.

“The fact that your postcode determines what care you receive when accessing NHS treatment is scandalous.  Every household in the country should know what standard of care they have the right to expect from the NHS‚ regardless of where they live.”

Polyclinics
“Older people are not against the idea of having community health and social care services under one roof‚ as long as they can maintain their relationship with their own GP. 

“If the Government can guarantee that the GP-patient relationship will be protected and that access will not be reduced‚ this could bring real benefits to older people.”

 

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

• 16% of the population are over the age of 65‚ but they occupy two thirds of general and acute hospital beds. 43% of the NHS budget (2004/05) is spent on them.[1]
• Six out of ten older people say they have a longstanding illness (57% of people aged 65-74 and 63% of people aged 75+ in 2001)[3] 

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