Yet more evidence of rationing in the NHS.

Yesterday, when I highlighted unofficial rationing of NHS services I could have done with the results of this major survey, reported in The Daily Telegraph today.

As you can see, age discrimination (in addition to how many other forms of discrimination?) is already here;

Age bias means elderly less than half as likely as young to have cancer surgery

 

A damning report warns of 'worrying' discrimination against the elderly, with

Young cancer sufferers more than twice as likely to end up having surgery

 

By  Laura Donnelly, Health Editor

 05 Dec 2014

Age discrimination means tens of thousands of cancer sufferers are being denied life-saving surgery, a major report has warned.

Research on more than 350,000 operations found that younger patients were more than twice as likely as pensioners to receive surgery for 19 different types of cancer.

Experts said the findings suggested a “worrying” bias against older sufferers, and expressed fear that pensioners were being denied surgery which might save their life.

They said the findings were especially important, because around half of cancers which are cured involve surgery.

The study by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) looked at all operations on adults in England for 21 types of cancer between 2006 and 2010.

It found that for 19 types of disease, younger patients were far more likely than older ones to receive major surgery.

Overall, those under the age of 55 were two and a half times more likely than those over the age of 75 to receive surgery across all 21 cancer types examined. In total, 59 per cent of younger people had surgery, compared with 23 per cent for older age groups. The differences were most acute for those suffering from kidney and ovarian cancers.

But the same patterns were seen in breast, lung and bowel cancer, the three biggest cancer killers, analysts said. The only two cancers where no differences were found were two types of surgery on the windpipe.

Nick Ormiston-Smith, Cancer Research UK’s head of statistics, said research suggested that patients who could benefit from surgery were being overlooked because of their age.

“These figures provide further detail about the age bias that older cancer patients face,” he said.

“We need to understand what is driving this difference. Earlier diagnosis is incredibly important and something we’re pushing for as it will mean more patients will be suitable for surgery and other treatments. But if older patients are not being offered a surgical option, that is wrong.”

In some cases, older patients may not have been well enough for surgery, or cancer might have been diagnosed late, he said, while others might have chosen not to have an operation. But the charity said the trends painted “a worrying picture” which required investigation.

Earlier this year the Royal College of Surgeons warned that in some parts of the country, no-one over the age of 75 is being offered surgery for breast cancer, while in others, few had bowel cancer surgery or knee and hip replacements.

The college's president said modern surgery offered much quicker recovery than the past, and urged older patients who felt they had been denied it on age grounds to speak "frankly" to their doctors.

The trends come despite legislation which came into force in October 2012 making it illegal for NHS staff to deny surgery to patients on the basis of age alone.

The new study found that 80 per cent of women with ovarian cancer who were under the age of 55 underwent operations to remove tumours. Among those aged 75 to 84, just 37 per cent had surgery.

Three quarters of men and women under the age of 55 with kidney cancer had operations, compared with just one in three of those aged 75 to 84.

Three quarters of women with breast cancer under the age of 55 had surgery, compared with less than one quarter of those over the age of 85.

Among bowel cancer patients, two thirds of under 55s had surgery, dropping to 39 per cent among those over the age of 85.

Clare Marx, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “Age alone must not be a reason for denying patients access to surgical opinion or treatment. In the case of cancer, surgery is an effective treatment for many forms of the disease and leads to thousands of patients being cured.

"The major consideration should always be their biological state rather than their age." She said the current trends were "worrying" and must be tackled.

 

Dr Mick Peake, clinical lead for the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN), said: “Surgeons take into account a number of factors when deciding whether to offer surgery to older cancer patients, such as whether the individual has other illnesses and the patient’s own personal choice.

 

“However, surgery is an effective treatment for many types of cancer and we need to ensure that patients are assessed on their individual fitness to undergo treatments irrespective of their age.”

If resources are short that means it’s time for a political debate about the resources available – in public and in the open. It’s never right to have secret rationing.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutthenhs.blogspot.com

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