New guidelines to help older people

Commissioner for Older People for Wales Ruth Marks has recommended that the government draws up a new charter setting out a specific set of rights to address the inequalities that people come to experience as they age in our society and protect them from age discrimination.

A new charter would help to identify the problem and thus enable individuals and organisations to set out new guidelines and strategies to address it.

One common example of discrimination against older people is the steep rise in travel insurance premiums that usually comes into effect when people reach the age of 70.

In a recent ICM poll conducted for the Commissioner results demonstrated that eight of ten people voted in favour of the guidelines and that 1,500 people from all age groups gave "overwhelming support" for the idea.

Ms Marks said: "Age discrimination often goes unrecognised in our society because it has, in many instances, become normal to discriminate unfairly against older people."

Head of Policy for the Older People's Commissioner Alun Thomas said that older people were "badly done by" in certain areas such as health and social care and were often denied the right to health screening just because of their age.

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