Elder abuse charity welcomes review of adult protection and social care laws
by Jon Land for 24dash.com
Wednesday 11th June 2008 - 9:19am
Action on Elder Abuse, (AEA) the leading specialist charity focusing on the abuse of older people, has welcomed today’s announcement that the Law Commission is to review the law under which residential care, community care, adult protection and support for carers is provided, in order to establish a coherent legal structure, preferably in the form of a single statute, for these services.
At least 800,000 older people are directly affected by such legislation, either in residential care or through domiciliary care support, while it is estimated that at least 500,000 older people experience abuse at the hands of families, friends, neighbours or paid staff.Despite this, adult protection is provided through guidance rather than legislation, and social care is provided through outdated legislation that is confusing, conflicting and open to interpretation.
The definition of who is considered a ‘vulnerable adult’ varies according to agencies and according to specific legislation and there is no single, agreed understanding of the term. This results in variable responses to abusive situations.
Gary FitzGerald, Chief Executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said: "This is very timely action by the Law Commission as this will address a significant area of long standing concern and one that affects many vulnerable people.
Gary FitzGerald added: "The reality is that we need a similar strategy to the protection of older people and other vulnerable adults as we have seen in the domestic violence arena."That involved both the legislation approach, as well as major publicity drives, multi-agency strategies intended to change people’s attitude and acceptance of domestic violence, and a zero tolerance of such abuse by the criminal justice system.
Abridged
SOURCE: 23Dash
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