BETRAYAL OF OLD FOLK IS CRIMINAL

CALL AFTER SHOCK EVIDENCE Rights experts demand action on care homes
By David Hughes (The Daily Record.co.uk)

THE treatment of old folk in hospitals and care homes is so bad that some carers should be classed as criminals.

That was the stark warning yesterday from a group of MPs and peers, who demanded a "complete change of culture" in how the elderly are looked after.
Parliament's committee on human rights called for new laws to force old people's homes to provide decent standards of care.

The MPs said: "Elder abuse is a severe human rights abuse, perpetrated on vulnerable older people who depend on their abusers to provide them with care.
"Not only is it a betrayal of trust, it would also, in certain circumstances, amount to a criminal offence."

The committee carried out a major investigation of care homes.
Shocked MPs heard how frail residents were left lying in their own filth. Others were fed so badly that they fell victim to malnutrition, or suffered terrifying abuse at the hands of staff.
The probe into homes and hospitals in England and Wales mirrors an award-winning Daily Record investigation into the standards of care in Scotland.
Our findings prompted the Executive to give the Care Commission more power to tackle abuse and bullying.

The Westminster human rights committee are now demanding a similar crackdown south of the Border.

In their report, the committee gave a series of horrific examples of abuse suffered by old folk in care.
One 80-year-old woman suffered a serious sexual assault by a fellow resident but staff did not call police or even tell her family.
The authorities were only alerted a year later, when the woman's daughter found out what had happened.

In another case, an 89-year-old lady's bed sores were not treated because staff at her care home said it was "not their job".

A third abuse victim, a 92-year-old woman called Dorothy, was admitted to hospital but was not given the help she needed to eat.
The committee heard: "On many occasions, Dorothy's food was left untouched on her bedside table and taken away at the end of mealtimes by the catering staff."
The MPs attacked the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice for failing to tell care homes about their duties under the Human Rights Act.
The committee also found evidence of "historic and embedded ageism" and a failure to "respect and protect the human rights of older people".
A shocking 21 per cent of care homes in England and Wales failed to reach minimum standards fo privacy and dignity. The committee called for every care home to be brought under the powers of the Human Rights Act.
The committee's chairman, Labour MP Andrew Dismore, said: "We must see a complete change of culture in the health and care services."
The report was welcomed by Help the Aged. Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at the charity, said: "This influential group of parliamentarians have lifted the lid on the shameful treatment of our older citizens.
"Far from tending to the needs of the most vulnerable, too often these services fail to respect older people's most basic human rights. Surely the shocking examples highlighted by this report provide all the evidence this Government needs to justify urgent action to remedy the situation.
"Help the Aged have long called for a ban on age discrimination and for action to ensure older people in care have their human rights protected. The Government must now act."
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: "It is scandalous that there is ignorance and even blatant disregard of human rights, seven years after the Human Rights Act first came into force."
He added: "This hard-hitting report gets to the heart of many of the problems.
"The Department of Health must, as the committee says, show more leadership in putting human rights at the heart of health and social care."

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Government around the world should take note. My plea on behalf of the voiceless - Act Now!