Older Cancer Patients Are Being 'Written Off'

Cancer Care: Experts' Opinions

Updated: 5:04pm UK, Friday 24 January 2014

Two experts give their view on treating older people who have cancer. Macmillan Cancer Support has claimed some patients are being "written off" for treatment because they are too old.

:: Professor Karol Sikora, Chief Medical Officer for Cancer Partners UK

Of course older people with cancer should be treated properly.

The Macmillan report and its interpretation by some of the media is in my view exaggerated. Doctors are not withholding treatment to try to reduce care costs.

Cancer treatment even with the latest drugs is a high risk business. The side effects are sometimes severe and often distressing.

Older people may have several other medical problems which mean we have to reduce the dose of drug. Also they may take longer to recover from the side effects.

So each case has to be assessed on its own merit. And there has to be a sense of balance - the quality of life has to be balanced against its length.

None of us are immortal and striving to prolong life may cause more pain and suffering. The art of good medicine is to make good decisions involving the wishes of the patient.

I've been an NHS consultant for 35 years and have seen massive changes. Above all older people are much healthier than ever before. Eighty is the new 60.

So the Macmillan report is a timely reminder that the actual age of a patient is no barrier to effective cancer treatment. But please don't blame the doctors for the capacity problems facing cancer care in our NHS. We are doing our best.

:: Tom Gentry, Health Policy Adviser for Age UK

The news today that people over 65 are surviving for 10 years or more following a diagnosis for cancer is a testament to both the improving health of older people and the incredible work of health and care professionals .

However, many older people are still unable to get the treatment they need and could benefit from.

It is often forgotten that people over 75 represent a third of all cancer diagnoses. But at the same time they represent a half of all cancer deaths.

People over 80 with the disease are the only age group in which mortality rates have got worse in the last 40 years.

Part of this will be because more of us are living beyond 80 and when we get there, we are more likely to live with a number of long-term conditions.

Some people may choose not to go through what could be highly aggressive treatments and value quality of life over how long they could live.

But such decisions are not always being made with the full facts.

People should be able to expect a care team to make a full assessment of their health and capacity to recover from treatment, i.e. your biological age.

Instead, health professionals too often make assumptions based on when you were born, i.e. your chronological age. This should never be a proxy for a person's health and fitness and is entirely out of step with the advances that continue to help all of us to live well for longer.

It is symptomatic of a health service that is not yet equipped to deliver fully equitable care for our ageing society. It is symptomatic of the fact that is has only been illegal to discriminate on the basis of age since October 2012.

Older people are the fastest growing group in our communities. All sections of society, particularly the care services they rely on, must do more to reflect this.

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