UK mental health services discriminate against the elderly

Aug 13 2007

An independent panel in the UK has found that when it comes to mental health services, many elderly people face discrimination.

The report, 'Inquiry into Mental Health and Well-Being in Later Life', found that services for older people with mental health problems are inadequate.

As more than 3.5 million older people have mental health problems the problem is clearly widespread and is, say the panel, the result of under-funding and age discrimination in mental health services.

The report found that direct age discrimination, such as age barriers to accessing services, can have a devastating effect on people's mental health with ageist attitudes also to blame, leading people to assume, wrongly, that it is inevitable older people will be depressed, or that little can be done to help those diagnosed with dementia.

Such factors they say prevent people obtaining support and treatment.

The report reveals the extent of illnesses to be expected by 2021, when one in 15 Britons will be an older person suffering a mental health problem.

According to the panel report, up to one in four people over 65 and two in five people over 85 are suffering depression or serious symptoms of depression and one in five people over 80 suffers from dementia; there are also higher rates of suicide in people over the age of 75.

Dr. June Crown chair of the inquiry, says mental health problems in later life were often preventable and treatable, yet older people with mental health problems are often ignored and receive little support.

It was found that two-thirds of older people with depression never discuss it with their GPs, and of the third that do, only half are diagnosed and treated.

The inquiry found that some doctors believe depression is simply a symptom of growing older.

A review last year found that explicit age discrimination had not declined in mental health services, with people over the age of 65 often receiving different, lower cost and inferior services to younger people - even if they have same condition.

Dr. Crown says current services for older people with mental health problems are inadequate in range, in quantity and in quality and action is long overdue to improve the lives of older people who experience mental health difficulties.

Organisations representing older citizens have welcomed the report and say years of ignorance, discrimination and underfunding must be overturned.

British Health Minister Ivan Lewis says the report raises fundamental questions for the NHS, care system, families and all communities in the challenge an ageing society presents.

The report makes 35 recommendations for improving mental health services for older people.

The government says they have set out guidance on improving services.