Older Patients and their Carers |
This page is aimed for patients aged over 60 and their
relatives/carers.
There is much emphasis in health education today on the
prevention rather than just the treatment of illness and
disease. This applies as much to those patients over 60 as
it does to the young. With average life expectancy reaching
the late 70’s / early 80’s a sensible and proactive approach
to one’s health in one’s 60’s can pay handsome dividends in
terms of both quality and length of life.
For all patients a yearly blood pressure check is essential
both in the prevention of heart disease, stroke and kidney
failure. If you have escaped ever having your cholesterol or
blood sugar checked then it is a good idea to have it done
at least once around the 60th birthday. At some stage in the
next few years a national programme for screening for bowel
cancer will be rolled out for patients aged 60 to 70.
Patients over the age of 65 are also invited to enter the
pneumococcal immunisation programme as well as the annual
influenza campaign.
Women patients should continue to have 3 yearly cervical
smears until the age of 65 and mammograms into their 70’s.
For men although a national prostate screening programme
does not yet exist if you are concerned the doctors are more
than happy to discuss whether this could be of value to you.
The link below may be of interest:
NHS Cancer Screening Programmes
The purpose of all screening programmes is to pick up problems
before they become apparent or before they can do harm and they
require nothing of patients except a knowledge of what is available.
Those who remember the early AIDS campaigns of the mid 1980’s may
remember the phrase “ Don’t die of ignorance”. This epithet also
applies to all manner of symptoms as one gets older and the golden
rule is that if you notice changes in your body that are either
worrying of themselves or persist for more than a few weeks : SEEK
ADVICE. Serious ill health can strike suddenly, however if one is
lucky one may get a warning – DON’T WASTE THE OPPORTUNITY.
The maintenance of health as one gets older is however not just a
matter of being aware of medical matters. We have included a list of
websites below which we hope our population of silver surfers or
their relatives might find useful for non medical sources of
information
Useful Local Websites: detailing Southwark based agencies
www.southwarkcarers.org.uk
www.ageconcernsouthwark.org.uk
National websites: information of a more general
nature
www.eatwell.gov.uk
www.helptheaged.org.uk
www.dwp.gov.uk
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