NHS prioritising the young, says Bakewell after being refused jabs
THE NHS may be discriminating against older people, Dame Joan Bakewell has claimed, after she said she was denied access to mammograms and a vaccination for shingles because of her age.
Dame Joan, the former Government “older people’s tsar” said she was concerned that the health service was prioritising younger people for preventive treatment and screening.
The 85-year-old broadcaster and Labour peer, said older people would be left to “fend for themselves” unless the NHS realised the value of keeping pensioners healthy.
During ITV’S Peston on Sunday, Dame Joan said: “Something is going wrong. I went to my local clinic and said I would like to have a mammogram again and I have been having them all my life, and I stay healthy, and I’ve resolved to stay healthy and they said, no you don’t automatically get called in now because you’re 70.
“I raised an eyebrow and they said you are eligible for a mammogram, you can have it but you have to apply. Now we are saying to people over 70 that when your memory is getting less reliable, it’s up to you.
“Now that also happens to shingles. It’s a very horrible illness and there are now vaccines for people who are old because the risk of shingles increases with age especially if you had chickenpox as a child. And I applied for that. No you aren’t eligible for shingles.
“So what is happening? Is the health service saying, well the old, they’ve had their lives we’ve got bigger priorities, it doesn’t matter.
“Given the problems of our finances, we’ll put the money with younger people rather than old? In which case the old are going to have to fend for themselves.” Dame Joan said she was raising the issue after the recent NHS breast cancer scandal in which 450,000 older women failed to receive screenings, which may have shortened the lives of 270 and led to thousands of missed cancer diagnosis.
Women are only offered screening up to the age of 70, because it was felt that the harm of over-diagnosis outweighs the risk of cancer. However trials are under way to find out if it would be beneficial to extend screening to 73. Older people are also only allowed the shingles vaccine up to the age of 79.
Dame Joan said prevention was important to keep older people healthy and save the NHS money. “There are more older people and they are very concerned about their health and it would save [it] money if they avoid illness,” she said. “When you are over 70 [prevention] is very important. And I know that’s true of all my generation. We’re eager to stay fit, we want help in doing it, but we don’t want to fall off the radar.”