Elderly Suffer Most In Their Homes

Jo Revill, health editor Sunday The Observer

The full extent of the abuse of vulnerable elderly people taking place in their own homes and being inflicted by members of their own family will be revealed in a report published tomorrow.
The study, commissioned from a leading charity by the Department of Health, looked at 639 cases referred to the authorities for adult protection over a six-month period last year. Well over half involved people above the age of 65 and a fifth involved those over 85. More women were victims than men.

Just over 20 per cent of perpetrators were family members such as a partner, son-in-law or daughter-in-law. A further 18 per cent were carers in nursing or residential homes. Other abusers included friends or paid carers coming into the home on behalf of local authorities.
The ill-treatment ranged from failing to feed old people properly to injuring them so badly they needed hospital care. Other forms of abuse included sexual acts, stealing or making threats. However, only five cases led to a prosecution. The charity, Action on Elder Abuse, found many victims were too scared to go ahead with the statements needed to mount a full legal case against relatives or carers.

Daniel Blake, author of the report, said: 'This report shows that many older vulnerable adults are being harmed in their own homes by people in the family. Most of the abuse will remain unreported because people are too frightened, ashamed or embarrassed to do so.'

This week the social care minister Liam Byrne will announce the creation of 'dignity guardians' to do more to protect the most vulnerable adults who have learning difficulties or disabilities. He wants to see it being taken as seriously as child abuse and domestic abuse.
'It is clear from this report that we need to enlist the help of everyone in society to be vigilant for signs of older people being abused at home,' he said. 'It is only together that we can tackle this shame in our society,' he said. The report also showed that many adults were abused by care workers. More than 1.6m people work in social care, but only one in four has formal training.

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