ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the findings that focus on healthcare for older people from the perspectives of older people and professionals and considers some of the implications. A large proportion of the discussion among the focus groups with older participants in each country concerned dignity in care. Many types of care were discussed, including family care, acute care, long-term residential care and care at the end of life. Undignified care emphasised the vulnerability of older people, often by stressing the unequal power relations between health professionals, especially doctors, and patients. Generally, older participants felt they should have the right to choose the manner of their death and that aggressive medical treatment at the end of life should be regulated. The depiction of care for older people and of the professionals providing it, in the media and in the perceptions of other colleagues, also impacted negatively on many individuals' perception of their professional identity.
