Despite government targets to “root out” age discrimination in the NHS, a report from the Standing Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Committee has found that elderly patients are being abused on NHS wards.
Elderly patients find they often go hungry and thirsty, are woken too early or left immobile too long, and denied privacy and independence.
The report, Caring for Older People: A Nursing Priority, raises concern that examples of good practice “are the exception rather than the norm” and that staff lack basic items such as linen, dressings and pillows.
Ministers have promised that NHS services will be provided regardless of age on the basis of clinical need alone as part of a new National Service Framework for Older People.