Elderly patients do not receive new treatments for cancer despite evidence that they could benefit just as much as the young, a survey has found.

A study of nearly 30,000 patients found that while about 60 per cent of all newly diagnosed cancer is in people over 65 and that treatments for them could be just as effective as for others in prolonging life without more severe side-effects, only 36 per cent of pensioners ever take part in new drug studies.

Forum Response: The Prostate Cancer Charity

Dr Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at the Prostate Cancer Charity, told ePolitix.com: "The reasons for this level of discrimination - for that is what it is - will be complex, but if our experience is anything to go by a significant proportion will be to do with adverse perceptions of 'old' age, or even just 'older' age.

"As a society we still don't 'get' that all of us have never had a better chance of getting old; we need positive images of it; any images of it would help, and thus promote the correct 'value' of getting old - so often we only look for the 'cost'.

"Doctors apply both social and medical values when deciding on treatment. They may not know it but they need wider society help to modify the social ones. Our youth dominated culture harms older people and it is perverse - given that we all have the best chance ever of living to old age - for any of us to continue to buy into it."

Forum Response: Help the Aged

A spokesman for Help the Aged told ePolitix.com: "Help the Aged believes that it is simply unacceptable for older people to be denied access to treatments that could improve their quality of life or potentially save their lives. Age must not be used as a means of 'rationing' services for people diagnosed with cancer, or any other condition.

"For far too long, older people have been discriminated against when it comes to health care, with poorer access to often poorer quality services. Help the Aged wholly supports the government's determination to ensure that a patient's chronological age is an irrelevant factor when determining appropriate treatment or services.

"Appropriate treatment must be determined by the particular clinical circumstances of the individual concerned. Allowing any other factor, such as age, to influence treatment options is discriminatory."

Forum Response: Age Concern

A spokeswoman for Age Concern told ePolitix.com: "Whilst these research findings are based largely on experience overseas, they mirror what Age Concern has found in its campaigning work in the UK: that significant numbers of older people continue to suffer ageism when accessing health services.

"Age discrimination remains deeply ingrained in our society. It is imperative that the National Service Framework for older people gets the support it needs to achieve its aim of rooting out age discrimination wherever it occurs in health and social care.

"At the same time, Age Concern continues to press for the urgent implementation of consistent, comprehensive legislation that will outlaw age discrimination in every area of life."