Age to factor in NHS treatment

Thursday, 5 May 2005 12:00 AM

Age can be a factor in healthcare treatment decisions, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has argued.

When age can affect the benefits, risks or value for money of treatment, it should become a determinant in whether or not that option is offered to patients, the government advisors said.

However, NICE stressed that discrimination on the basis of age, such as who will be offered IVF treatment, should be backed up with clear clinical evidence.

"What the citizen's council has said is that if there is a justifiable clinical reason to not provide a treatment for certain age groups, not just older people, that will be OK, if this treatment would not work or could not be offered," a spokeswoman for NICE said.

"This is a common issue, one that NICE faces when developing guidance, and we have said that there has to be clinical evidence when discriminating on grounds of age."

IVF treatment is one area in which age could become a factor, with NICE recommending that only women between the ages of 23 and 39 be offered three cycles of treatment.

However age discrimination will work both ways, according to NICE, with the elderly prioritised for treatments such as flu vaccinations.

NICE also ruled out treatment discrimination on social or lifestyle grounds, such as obesity or smoking.

Tags: