Senior managers are struggling to defeat age discrimination in the NHS and social services, a study report from the King's Fund, an independent charitable think tank, has said.

The study was undertaken because it was recognised that the success of the government's initiative in this area, set out last year in the national service framework for older people, would rely heavily on senior management (BMJ 2001;322:751).

The King's Fund study aimed to discover how senior managers felt that age discrimination affected the provision of services and what action was being taken to stamp it out.

A total of …