Joan Bakewell draws attention to how elderly people are vulnerable to abuse.

Joan Bakewell: It is easy to abuse those too vulnerable to complain - Independent

Extract:

"Why do little children pull the wings of insects? Because they can. They have the power and the curiosity to do so. Why do pigs hunt down the runt of the litter? Because in the pecking order of nature, to have someone clearly weaker than you, endorses your own power. Why do some men beat up their wives in the privacy of their own homes? Because they have the need to assert their will and the opportunity to do so undetected.

Hierarchies of power and dominance exist in human society every bit as much as in the animal kingdom. Civilisation is the way we tame our impulses to exploit. But civilisation wears thin when we have the need and the chance to assert our own superiority.

Our supposed civilised society is nowhere more culpable than in the appalling treatment regularly meted out to the very old. Over and over, the cry goes out from charities, and concerned families and carers, that there is widespread and serious abuse of the very old. Now comes another report, this time from the King's Institute of Gerontology in London, launched in association with Action on Elder Abuse and based on two years' research, that declares that the violence, bullying and neglect of the old are far more extensive and serious than we ever thought."

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More than 700,000 elderly people are subjected to abuse in their own homes or privately run nursing homes, study finds.

700,000 elderly people 'are being abused' The Observer

Extract:

"More than 700,000 elderly people are subjected to abuse in their own homes or privately run nursing homes, according to the results of a new study to be published this week.

The report - the first investigation for a decade to look at the abuse of the elderly in the UK - will say the rate of violence, bullying and neglect is significantly higher than was thought.

Although the rates of serious physical abuse and injury are relatively low, there are high levels of neglect, verbal assaults and behaviour that strips people of their self-esteem. The results are so serious that ministers are planning an overhaul of the adult protection system, which could lead to more people being prosecuted.

Care Minister Ivan Lewis, who has campaigned within the government for the dignity and privacy of older people, said: 'We need to have a fresh look at the whole adult protection regime in this country. I want to see a situation where people are as outraged by the abuse of an older person as they are by the abuse of a child. Sadly, we are nowhere near that yet as a society, but that culture has to change.'

Researchers from the King's Institute of Gerontology in London spent two years collecting data on the prevalence of abuse in private homes. The work is the first research funded by Comic Relief, and it was supported by the Department of Health.

The report will say the harm is often done to those who are particularly vulnerable because they have had a stroke or have dementia and cannot communicate properly. It will suggest that relatives need to look out for signs of abuse."


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