Penilla Gunther, Former Member of Swedish Parliament, Founder of FOKUS Patient and President of the European Patient Safety Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“During the European Cancer Summit, a session was held about ‘Healthy Ageing With Cancer’ together with SIOG – International Society of Geriatric Oncology and The EU project NAVIGATE.
Martine Extermann said very wisely that we need to rethink about age, people are aging differently now against 50 years ago.
This is true – in many ways.
- More people getting older because of good healthcare
- They live 20+ years after retirement and many are travelling or doing things they did not have time for before
But - People have 2 or more connected diseases when they are over 65 yrs old and treatment is needed for all
- Screening for different types of cancer varies by countries with age limits
- Financial situations for elderly people must be addressed as well as access to care by geriatric specialists
Healthcare and life science must work together with the rest of society to handle this all the way from education, training of HCPs, and reach out to citizens to not stop asking for screening or regular health checks above a certain age.
Quality of Life is to feel safe even in uncertain times. To trust healthcare that you will get the best treatment when you need it.”
More posts featuring Penilla Gunther.