NATIONAL Health Service care for older people with mental health problems needs “urgent attention”, says a watchdog.

People over 65 are often discriminated against, and can find themselves excluded from specialist services, according to the Healthcare Commission.

Its report found some elderly people were shut out of services on the basis of cost while others were not referred on by their GP.

Two mental health trusts were found to be treating people on the basis of need, rather than age, but others were lagging behind.

The report said: “Most trusts were struggling to make progress, and older people were denied access to the full range of mental health services available to younger adults. In particular, there was poor access to out-of-hours and crisis services, psychological therapies and alcohol services.”

Around 40% of older people who visit their GP are estimated to have a mental health problem, as are 50% of older people in hospital and 60% of those in care homes.

More than a quarter of admissions to mental health inpatient services are for people over the age of 65.

The report – Equality in Later Life – noted that mental health problems among older people will become more of an NHS burden in the future.

With an increasingly ageing population, more and more people will suffer from diseases like dementia, which currently costs the UK economy more than £17bn a year.