News from the European Psychiatric Association

Transcription

1 News from the European Psychiatric Association Old Age Services across the UK In December 2013, EPA s Section on Geriatric Psychiatry called on the EPA President, Professor Danuta Wasserman, to react on the situation of closing specialist mental health services for older people in the UK. An open letter was published in the Times in January 2014, bearing co-signatures of Royal College representatives and some EPA members. Both the EPA Board and the Council of National Societies/Associations (NPAs) discussed this issue in Munich in March The Council of NPAs was asked to prepare a letter to Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt, the UK Secretary of State for Health, which was sent in March In response to EPA s letter, Mr. Hunt sent a detailed reply in August Both letters were published in European Psychiatry Volume 29, Issue 7. The UK Chief Medical Officer, Prof Dame Sally C Davies, recently published the following statement in her annual report: Mental health problems in older adults are common, often undiagnosed but as amenable to established treatments as in other groups. Helping people with combined physical, psychological and social difficulties in the context of ageing and end of life requires specialism. This could be compromised by any move to generic 'age-less' services. Professor Danuta Wasserman EPA President

2 Executive Committee President D. Wasserman (Stockholm) Past President P. Boyer (Paris) President Elect W. Gaebel (Düsseldorf) Secretary General J. Beezhold (Norwich) Treasurer P. Gorwood (Paris) Members of the Board S. Bailey (London) J. Beezhold (Norwich) I. Bitter (Budapest) P. Boyer (Paris) G. Dom (Boechout) P. Falkai (München) W. Gaebel (Düsseldorf) S. Galderisi (Napoli) P. Gorwood (Paris) C. Hanon (Paris) - Secretary for Education A. Heinz (Berlin) C. Höschl (Praha) M. Kastrup (Copenhagen) T. Kurimay (Budapest) M. Musalek (Wien) - Secretary for Sections W. Rössler (Zürich) R.J. van der Gaag (Arnhem) D. Wasserman (Stockholm) Z. Zemishlany (Petah Tikva) Dear Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt, Rt. Hon Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health Stockholm, 11 March 2014 We are writing on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association representing psychiatrists from across Europe to express our concerns about the proposed changes in the delivery of Old Age Services across UK. At the meeting of the 34 Presidents of National Psychiatric Associations in Munich on the 4 th of March 2014, it was unanimously agreed to write to you about the development of generic "all age services which are expected to provide services for the older individuals. There is no doubt amongst us that age discrimination should be avoided and seamless transitions in the course of life, favoured by the existence of adequate services that work together for the benefit of all. But we do wish to draw attention to the fact that throughout Europe, Old Age Psychiatry is a very relevant sub-specialism with a specifically trained, skilled workforce for older people with functional illness (depression, psychosis) and or dementia and that these experts should be the vehicle for the provision of age appropriate non-discriminatory services to the older population. As you yourself have expressed on several occasions, dementia is likely to become an epidemic and it is critical that our patients get the best services by fully trained and fully qualified health care professionals. The potential risk for "ageless" services is that of adopting discriminatory decisions against older persons. Examples include poor quality treatment and care, marginalisation within the care system "warehousing" outside the health care system, low status of professionals and services providing care, staff recruitment and retention problems, inadequate funding at National and Local level, negative impact on families (blame, loss of friends ) and unnecessary institutionalisation. Exclusion from research with a consequent lack of robust evidence on how to improve quality of care for the elderly is likely to be exacerbated by this approach. / The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) is the official title of an Association registered with the Registrar of Associations (volume 46, no. 63) at the Strasbourg Tribunal d'instance. The Association shall be subject to the provisions of Articles 21 to 79 of the local Civil Code in force in the French Counties of Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin and Moselle, under the Act of 1 June 1924 governing the introduction of French civil legislation, and of these Articles of Association.

3 Any decision to create "ageless" services should be based on solid evidence. Sadly such evidence is lacking. Any decision concerning "ageless" services, not made on a sound scientific and/or clinical basis cannot be in the best interest of patients, their care givers or the professionals responsible for their care and treatment. We therefore urge both the UK government and those charged with commissioning and delivering healthcare to urgently reconsider their decision for the sake of the overall health and appropriate care of the elderly citizens in your country. We acknowledge that ageless services may improve transition, but the specialism and specialist skills may be lost to the detriment of vulnerable elderly patients. We strongly urge you to reconsider your decision. Yours sincerely, on behalf of all the individual members and the 34 European National Psychiatric Member societies, Professor Danuta Wasserman President of the European Psychiatric Association Cc: Professor Alastair Burns, National Director for Elderly services.

4

5