DISCRIMINATION OF THE ELDERLY IN THE HEALTH SYSTEM

Conclusions from the General Meeting

The General Meeting of the Group of European Retired Staff and Pensioners of Savings Banks, Banks and Related Institutions, held in Albufeira (Portugal) the 9^th of April 2008, unanimously decided to present before the corresponding authorities the following proposals concerning the discrimination of the elderly in the health system:

1. Health care systems must be constantly adapted to the changing needs of a population in continuous evolution: fortunately, the elderly population has grown considerably, and this growth is lasting.

2. Geriatric training for family doctors must be promoted and encouraged.

3. Primary health centres must work with enough trained doctors able to diagnose and treat the elderly's illnesses.

4. All specialised medical care centres must have enough geriatricians to be able to cope with the number of older people assigned to the centre in question.

5. All hospitals must have geriatric units and enough beds to look after the elderly assigned to the centre.

6. Clinical tests for new medicines must include the elderly too, since their exclusion leads to a lack of knowledge based on evidence and experience, so that this new medicine could be used with older people.

7. A palliative care plan for incurable illnesses must be drawn up and developed, in order to relieve the pain and to reduce as much as the possible alienating effects suffered by patients; and it must include enough doctors with sufficient training to provide this kind of treatments.

8. An egalitarian access to treatment must be ensured to all people of all ages, in all places, in order to avoid the normalization of the elderly’s health problems.

9. Programs for health prevention and promotion must also be aimed at the elderly.

10. The elderly must be given the right to donate organs on medical recommendation and to receive organs for transplants.

11. All staff must be trained and encouraged to show sensitiveness when treating older people, according to their personal situation, both in the medical and administrative fields.