§ 24. Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates his Department has made of the cost of treating people over 60 years of age. [18253]
§ Mr. BoatengInformation is not collected centrally that would enable an estimate to be made of the costs of treating people aged 60–64. Treatment for people aged 65 and over, who make up about 16 per cent. of the population, accounts for about 40 per cent. of expenditure on hospital and community health services. Elderly people use a proportionately greater volume of services than those used by the rest of the adult population, primarily because their incidence of disease is higher, but also because their pace of recovery after illness may be somewhat slower. People aged 75 and over in particular show more complex patterns of health problems. They often have a combination of several conditions and these may be complicated by general frailty and social problems such as the recent death of a spouse or relatives living some distance away.