Campaign to improve protection of vulnerable adults
22nd June 2011
A SPECIAL information board at Kidderminster Hospital was manned by social work and nursing staff as part of a campaign to improve protection of vulnerable adults.
The Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board (WSAB) commemorated World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEADD) on Wednesday, June 15 with a number of informative display boards situated at County Hall and in hospitals countywide.
It is estimated that more than 4,000 older adults are abused in their homes in Worcestershire each year, and this figure does not include those living in care homes, hospitals or those with a mental health problem.
Worcestershire's referral rate was 455 cases of abuse of older people reported last year (2010). This is slightly above the national average, but is still less than one in nine of all the suspected incidents of abuse.
On WEAAD itself the hospital boards were manned by social work and nursing staff.
They aimed to raise awareness of the mistreatment and neglect of older adults, to illustrate the kinds of appropriate preventative measures that can be taken to stop this happening and show how to refer concerns about abuse of older people to the relevant agencies for action.
Also, WEAAD saw the launch of the WSABs new prevention strategy, which strives to ensure that all agencies are working to protect vulnerable adults against abuse.
The WSAB brings together Worcestershire County Council, the district councils, local health services, the police, the independent and voluntary sectors and service users and their carers.
Pete Morgan, the independent chairman of the WSAB, said: “The public perception is that children are the most at risk of abuse but vulnerable adults need our care and protection too, and not only those living in care homes.
"Those living in their own homes can also be at risk, but often in ways that can be hidden. The number of cases being reported is going up, an indication not that more adults are being abused, but that public and professional awareness is growing.”
SOURCE: The KidderMinsterShuttle, UK
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