ONE in three pensioners have revealed they would not feel safe in a Northern Ireland hospital if they fell ill - while most find it impossible to get a timely GP appointment.
A new report will today detail the problems facing older people in accessing health and social care services during a period of spiralling waiting lists and high-profile care failings.
Unveiled by the north's 'Pensioners Parliament' - a lobby group set up four years ago - the research comes as the Royal College of GPs warns the north is worst region in the NHS for getting an appointment within a week.
Concerns about homehelp packages, the re-introduction of prescription charges and closure of NHS care homes are among the other issues exposed in the older people's report, which includes the views of 700 pensioners.
Age Sector Platform, the charity responsible for the Pensioners Parliament, described the findings as "damning" given that a major programme of reform aimed at improving standards, known as Transforming Your Care, is well underway.
Robert Hasson from the charity said the fact that more than a third of elderly people did not regard hospital treatment as safe was an indictment of the health service.
He added: "Worryingly, the majority of older people do not believe decisions made in relation to health and social care are open and transparent. Premature decisions made in relation to statutory residential care homes and meals on wheels services have certainly added to this mistrust."
Meanwhile, Dr John O’Kelly, chair of the Royal College of GPs , has warned of the impact of rocketing numbers of patients seeking appointments - with an almost 80 per cent rise in the past decade.
Dr O’Kelly, who has been a GP for 25 years, said they were at crisis point after a poll discovered that only a fifth of patients were able to book an appointment within the same week.
The north has the oldest GP workforce in the NHS and is experiencing severe difficulties in recruiting new trainees.
"GPs now make 12.7m patient consultations a year - an increase of 76 per cent in the past decade," said Dr O’Kelly.
"This combination of workforce pressures and an increase in workload is having a significant impact on patients…The College has welcomed an announcement in April of £15m investment in general practice. However, this does not address the underlying causes of long waiting times for patients and I would urge the health minister to deal with this as a matter of priority."
