UK: Scots doctors 'will never use age bias'

EDINBURGH (The Scotsman), May 9, 2005 :

Doctors in Scotland will never discriminate between patients on the basis of age, leading NHS policymakers said last night.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) said it would not be considering guidelines outlined by their English equivalent, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

NICE had said there are occasions discrimination would be appropriate, such as when age could affect the benefits or risks of treatment.

Andrew Dillon, NICE’s chief executive, said: "The institute has to make difficult decisions about how well treatments work and which treatments offer the NHS best value for money.

"We know that factors such as age and lifestyle can influence how clinically or cost- effective a treatment is, and we are asking people whether NICE is getting it right when we take this type of factor into account during the development of our guidance."

Part of NICE’s document, Social Value Judgements, which is still open to consultation until 30 June, outlines that "where age is an indicator of benefit or risk, age discrimination is appropriate".

However, a spokesman for QIS, which initiates clinical policies in Scotland, said the guidelines were aimed at England and Wales. He said: "Today’s recommendations are about the National Institute’s internal methodologies and as such have no relevance to Scotland. NHS QIS does not, and would never, exercise age discrimination."

Its reaction will be a relief for Scottish elderly support groups. Jess Barrow, of Age Concern Scotland, said: "It is utterly inappropriate for the grounds of age to be used when deciding on treatment.

"Treatment should be decided upon on the basis of clinical need only. Chronological age is not a good indicator of clinical need.

"It sends out a message that age discrimination is acceptable. Older people are made to feel like second-class citizens and they’re being made to feel like they’re not worth treating either. That is utterly unacceptable and NICE should not be putting out guidelines like these at all." By Michael Blackley