‘Where are all the older people?’ They’re not here either. Referral rates of over- and under-65s in Dumfries & Galloway

Abstract

Here we report an audit of the number of older adult and working-age adult referrals to the Dumfries & Galloway Psychological Services and Research department (hereafter referred to as ‘Psychological Services’) over a 15-month period. Although older adults comprised 25.3 per cent of the local population we found that they accounted for just 8.9 per cent of referrals to Psychological Services. Working-age adults were between three and four times more likely to be referred to Psychological Services than older-age adults. This finding lends further support to the hypothesis that ageist practices result in under-referral of older adults relative to working age adults.The finding of relative under-referral in Glasgow, the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway, together with the lack of any contrary findings, suggests the likely existence of a trend throughout Scotland toward under-referral of older adults to psychological therapies.