European doctors worry about the care they will receive when they are old

Most doctors in Europe are concerned about the level and quality of healthcare that they will receive in their old age because they lack confidence in existing services and health policies, a survey has found.

Eighty per cent of 1113 health professionals surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit said they were anxious about how they would be treated when they were old. They feared that current policies to deal with the future demands of an ageing population were not comprehensive, realistic, or sufficiently funded, and 49% of them believed that the ageing population threatened the viability of their countries’ national healthcare systems.

However, half of the respondents to the survey, which was supported by Pfizer, believed …