NHS To Take Extra Care Of The Aged

All NHS hospitals are now required to appoint a senior nurse so that the elderly are treated with dignity in the hospitals, according to new rules issued by the government. Ministers said there would be an attitude of zero tolerance towards any abuse of the older patients in the hospitals. <br Professor Ian Philp, the government's older people representative made it clear that hospitals will be subjected to rigorous checks in order to ensure that they comply with the rules. The Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection will subject institutions, which do not comply with the rules to a stricter inspection. "Not one more older person should suffer undignified, inequitable or disconnected healthcare," said Gordon Lishman, the director general of Age Concern. Jonathan Ellis, the policy manager at Help the Aged said that most aged people were treated simply as passive members of the society. "The government must now rise to the challenges it has set and ensure these new measures become a reality for older people everywhere," he said. "Older people form the single largest group of NHS-users. Getting it right for older people means getting it right for everyone."