WITH new age-discrimination legislation due to come into force in October, the NHS is gearing up to comply.
But People Management (Feb 9) says that in an increasingly decentralised health service, the hard part is not compliance, but changing attitudes.
Carole Smith, who manages the age diversity programme of NHS Employers, says that the “bare bones” are in place to ensure that organisations work within the law.
“But it takes longer to reshape attitudes and it would be unrealistic to assume that everybody will change these by the time the legislation comes into force.”
So what should trusts be doing? “The first thing I’d expect is a board-level discussion of the implications of the legislation and of demographic change,” Smith says. They should also decide whether they will have a fixed retirement age and, if not, ensure that staff know that they can carry on working until they choose to retire.
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Managers and HR teams should also work with unions to develop an age strategy that covers recruitment and selection processes.
They might also consider ways of helping staff with chronic conditions to continue working safely or to move to a department that works with a different patient group.
But are managers ready to break down the walls between different parts of their organisations? Not yet, Smith admits. But a more thoughtful deployment of staff may actually save money and could prevent the loss of valuable skills, she says.