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Age equality in health and social care

  • Document type:
    Report
  • Author:
    Sir Ian Carruthers OBE, Chief Executive NHS South and Jan Ormondroyd, Chief Executive West Bristol City Council
  • Published date:
    22 October 2009
  • Gateway reference:
    12804
  • Series number:
    299233
  • Pages:
    63
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown

In April 2009, the then Secretary of State for Health asked Sir Ian Carruthers OBE, Chief Executive of NHS South West, and Jan Ormondroyd, Chief Executive of Bristol City Council, to undertake a review of age discrimination and age equality in the health and social care sector.

The Secretary of State asked Sir Ian and Jan to consider what health and social care organisations should do to ensure that people are not discriminated against by services because of their age.  The review was set up to help health and social care organisations meet the ban on age discrimination and the new public sector equality duty in the Equality Bill.

The review analysed evidence about the nature, extent and variability of age discrimination in health and social care services.  It also considered what reforms are already in train to tackle age discrimination and support greater age equality.  It looked at evidence from a wide variety of sources, including academic research, stakeholder submissions, personal testimony and the conclusions of a number of workshops and engagement events.

The review published its report to the Secretary of State, Achieving Age Equality in Health and Social Care, on 22 October 2009. 

The consultation is now live and includes the Government's response on the recommendations in the review that are not directly tied to the legislation. The consultation, Age Equality in Health and Social Care, is concerned with action to be taken in England. However, the Equality Bill applies throughout Great Britain. The Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government are considering separately what action to take to prepare the NHS and social care in Scotland and Wales for implementation of the Equality Bill. There will also be a further consultation on a draft legislative Order led by the Government Equalities office in 2010. To view and/or respond to the consultation before February 2010 please follow the link to the consultation.

Centre for Policy on Ageing literature reviews

The National Review into age discrimination and age equality in health and social care led by Sir Ian Carruthers and Jan Ormondroyd commissioned the Centre for Policy on Ageing to undertake four literature reviews which comprise a crucial part of the evidence base that underpinned the work of the review.  These reports follow on from the four commissions from the Department of Health from CPA, PSSRU and Leeds University which were published in June 2008.  

Responsibility for these reports rests with their authors. Any views expressed about policy issues relating to age discrimination should not be ascribed to the Department.

The four reviews cover the following areas:

Consultation events

To further increase opportunities for consultation involvement, four events have been planned to enable the NHS and local authorities and other stakeholders to contribute to the consultation and comment on the work in producing a resource pack to support local implementation.  We would welcome interest from non-executive directors and members, professional and managerial staff, members of third and independent sector providers and representatives of the public and campaigning organisations.  

They will be held as follows:

Monday 18 January 2010 in Bristol
Friday 22 January 2010 in Birmingham  
Wednesday 3 February 2010 in London
Monday 8 February 2010 in Leeds

To reserve a place, please contact Judith Saville by Wednesday 6 January 2010 :

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