Charity Claims Older People Not Protected (UK)

Charity claims older people not protected

07 May 2009

Thousands of older people who suffer abuse in their own homes are not being protected, a charity has claimed.

 Action on Elder Abuse say fewer than four per cent of people aged over 65 in Hampshire who are abused are being referred to the county council.

The charity places Hampshire County Council in 82nd position in its study of 91 local authorities' adult care systems.

 

In the report, Action on Elder Abuse also found less than 14 per cent of people thought to be suffering abuse in Portsmouth are being protected.

Overall, national statistics show just one of one in 10 older people are supported by adult protection systems.

Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of AEA, blames central government. He said: 'This is an appalling situation, made worse by the fact that government policies fail to treat the protection of adults with the same seriousness as that of children – or even animals.'

The findings come from an AEA report based on 2007 statistics that show 3.9 per cent of pensioners in England suffer abuse in their own home, yet only a fraction of these people are being referred to local authorities to be safeguarded.

Rob Watt, Portsmouth City Council's head of adult social care, said: 'Whenever abuse is brought to our attention we have a specialist, dedicated, safeguarding team which investigates every instance.

'The council was recently praised by the government's independent regulator.'

Gill Duncan, Hampshire County Council's director of Adult Services, said 100 per cent of safeguarding referrals to county council were acted on and questioned the AEA figures.

SOURCE:   Portsmouth News - Portsmouth,England,UK

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