CHRISTINA Killingbeck is a feisty 89-year-old who lives on her own and expects only that she be treated with the respect due to her age.

But the attitude of a GP she consulted about a private cataract operation made her see red.

Because of complications, the operation was not going to be straightforward.

There was also a long waiting list of up to 12 months, so Miss Killingbeck had decided to have the operation done privately.

Her own GP was not available, and instead she was seen by a "pool" doctor.

She said: "He was a youngish man. He said 'At your age you don't expect that to be a success,' and said I was wasting my money. He was most rude."

Miss Killingbeck, who lives in central York and will be 90 next month, went ahead with the operation anyway. She has nothing but praise for the staff at York District Hospital who carried it out, and is waiting to have her second eye done on the NHS later this year.

But her experience with the pool doctor still rankles.

She said: "It (the operation) has been wonderful. It has made a huge difference. I live on my own and want to remain independent.

Without the operation I wouldn't have been able to get around as I do. I was so infuriated by what he said. A lot of people tend to talk down to people when they are old, they think they cannot think. It is really very ridiculous."

According to Age Concern, such attitudes on the part of health professionals are, unfortunately, not uncommon.

James Player, deputy chief officer of the charity's York branch, said part of the problem was that older people were unwilling to push themselves forward, or to make a fuss.

He said: "Older people are reluctant to push, they are more likely to accept that they will have to wait.

"But if you're in your eighties and faced with a long waiting list, those are precious years."

Medics insist that treatments such as hip operations and cataract operations are given a high priority, because they are known to be effective and can hugely improve the quality of life.

Dr Neil Maskrey, of North Yorkshire Health Authority, said a person's age did not come into the equation, but simply how effective the treatment would be.

But he admitted the health service was not a "garden of Eden".

He said: "The paternalistic attitude of doctors, the 'I'm the doctor, you're the patient' sort of thing, is old hat and dying out rapidly. A pocket of that does still exist but people are very sensitive to it now."

Meanwhile, Age Concern's advice to elderly people who feel they need treatment and are not getting it is: be ready to make a fuss.

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