BMJ 1999;319:1450-1451 ( 4 December )

Editorials

Medicine must change to serve an ageing society

Eradicate age discrimination and increase resources

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Doctors and those responsible for commissioning and shaping health services have failed to acknowledge the rapid ageing of most societies. This worldwide phenomena is unprecedented, leaving us ignorant, fearful, and reluctant to tackle it face on. A conference in London last month examined how medicine and its institutions must change to serve a growing older population while still meeting the needs of younger people. Two issues dominated: age discrimination and resources.

Currently 20% of the population of the United Kingdom is over 6012 million people. By 2031 this proportion will be nearly a third18.6 million people.¹ Most will lead healthy and rewarding lives, but the numbers of people needing acute and long term care will inevitably increase. Rates of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and osteoarthritis among elderly people in the next century will be greatly determined by success or failure now in preventing such disease.

Health care is ill suited to . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Out with "the old," elderly, and aged

Marianne Falconer and Desmond O'Neill
BMJ 2007 334: 316. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Underinvestigation and undertreatment of carotid disease in elderly patients with transient ischaemic attack and stroke: comparative population based study

Jack F Fairhead and Peter M Rothwell
BMJ 2006 333: 525-527. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Medicine to serve an ageing society

G H Hall and Susie Orme
BMJ 2000 320: 447. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Falconer, M., O'Neill, D. (2007). Out with "the old," elderly, and aged. BMJ 334: 316-316 [Full text]  
• Fairhead, J. F, Rothwell, P. M (2006). Underinvestigation and undertreatment of carotid disease in elderly patients with transient ischaemic attack and stroke: comparative population based study. BMJ 333: 525-527 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Barton, A, Mulley, G (2003). History of the development of geriatric medicine in the UK. Postgrad. Med. J. 79: 229-234 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Heath, I. (2000). Dereliction of duty in an ageist society. BMJ 320: 1422-1422 [Full text]  
• Ebrahim, S. (2000). Do not resuscitate decisions: flogging dead horses or a dignified death?. BMJ 320: 1155-1156 [Full text]  
• Hall, G H, Orme, S. (2000). Medicine to serve an ageing society. BMJ 320: 447a-447 [Full text]  
• Smith, R. (1999). Medicine and the marginalised. BMJ 319: 1589-1590 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Low Intensity General Hospitals for the Chronically Ill

Michaeli Dan
bmj.com, 4 Dec 1999 [Full text]

What about the workers?

Harry Hall
bmj.com, 4 Dec 1999 [Full text]

Old age medicine or age old medicine?

Tom Oommen
bmj.com, 6 Dec 1999 [Full text]

Medicine may not serve the young either!

Rod MacQueen
bmj.com, 8 Dec 1999 [Full text]

Will the English antiageist liner reach the port of Italy?

Aldo Mariotto
bmj.com, 11 Dec 1999 [Full text]

Medicine must change to serve an ageing society

Susie Orme
bmj.com, 13 Dec 1999 [Full text]

Age Discrimination

G B Scholes
bmj.com, 13 Dec 1999 [Full text]