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EVIDENCE that the health service discriminates against older people is now overwhelming, a national charity says today in the latest stage of its campaign to end ageism in the NHS. 

It is calling on the Government to outlaw such discrimination with new legislation and for it to commission a full study into the extent of the problem. 
"Older people report discrimination at all levels of the heath service. It is often explicit as when patients are told that treatment is unavailable to them because of their age," according to Turning your back on us, published by Age Concern. 

The report is based on the personal experiences of 1,000 older people and their families who wrote to Age Concern after it launched its anti-age discrimination campaign in the spring. A Gallup survey at the time found that one in 20 people over 65 had been refused treatment while one in 10 said they had been treated differently since reaching 50. 

The report says 40 per cent of coronary care units limit the use of clot busting drugs on the basis of age and kidney dialysis or transplantation is refused to 66 per cent of kidney patients aged 70 to 79. It says that when women reach 65 they are no longer invited for breast cancer screening although the risk increases with age and 63 per cent of breast cancer deaths occur in women over 65. 

Lady Greengross, director general of Age Concern England, said yesterday: "The Government must act now to halt the spread of the epidemic of ageism in the NHS. This report presents loudly and clearly the voices of older people who feel they have been fobbed off, undervalued and even abused by the NHS." 

Today Help the Aged launches its Heating or Eating appeal to raise £1 million to support elderly people vulnerable to the cold. Michael Lake, the charity's director, said: "Many older people worry about making ends meet in the winter. What they need is a decent state pension so the terrible choice between heating a room or eating a hot meal will become a thing the past."