Older people remain among the most marginalised in our society yet, given the fact that most of us will eventually get there, seem to attract the least impetus for change.
Over the years there has been countless Government and other inquiries about the situation but it seems looking back though history that no sooner has one inquiry started than another one starts, and little gets done.
Today an interim report into human rights abuses tells how some older people receiving domiciliary care are left in soiled clothes and in bed for up to 17 hours a day. Much of this treatment is meted out by out local authorities who have cut and cut their budgets and, consequently, the amount of time those receiving care get. This of course only concerns those who receive care – because fewer old people receive care than ever before as thresholds have risen, in most cases, to critical level.
The councils, of course, point the finger at the Government for its cuts in block grant although it must be remembered that an extra £1billion for adult social care in recent months seems to have largely disappeared ..but then, of course, it wasn't ring-fenced.
In reality much of what goes on is nothing short of institutional elder abuse – at the hands of the state, at the hands of the local authority and, because few of us make a fuss about it, in our names.
BBC - Interim report outlines shocking abuses of the human rights http://t.co/8LeQbfY
Independent - Home care 'neglects basic rights' of elderly
No comments:
Post a Comment