Charities are calling for new laws to protect the elderly as a study shows that more than 300,000 cases of abuse go undetected each year.

Call for new laws to protect elderly from abuse
article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Cases of abuse of the elderly uncovered by inspectors include care homes where residents were routinely tied to their beds and chairs, locked up or dragged around by their hair.

Other residents, many of whom had dementia, have been refused food and denied trips to the lavatory in punishment for "bad behaviour".

Investigations have revealed a woman of 85 who had her fingernails ripped off by a care worker, a 78-year-old covered in cigarette burns, and a number of thefts of pensions by care staff paid to look after the elderly.

Government research suggests that 340,000 pensioners suffer some form of physical, financial or emotional abuse each year.

Action on Elder Abuse investigated local authority records and found that fewer than a tenth of that number of cases are ever investigated by social services.

The charity, together with the Alzheimer's Society, Age Concern, Mencap, and the Commission for Social Care Inspection, is calling for laws to be introduced which would place a duty on all agencies which work with vulnerable adults to log and investigate reports of abuse – either in residential care or in family homes – and to share information with other agencies.

Currently, different bodies set their own rules about how to protect the frail elderly, and disabled, from harm.

The charities made the plea as part of submissions to a Government consultation on the protection of vulnerable adults, which closed yesterday.

Gary Fitzgerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said: "We are simply not doing enough to protect old people facing abuse, and we are challenging the Government to listen and to introduce safeguards that make this a priority."

Neil Hunt of the Alzheimer's Society added: "We need to fight any abuse of people with dementia and that means putting systems in place early to avoid putting them at risk.""

You can reduce your risk of developing dementia by eating less salt/sodium.

Dr Max Pemberton reflects on the disrespect towards old people which he says is endemic in our society

Finger on the pulse
Article by Dr Max Pemberton in the Telegraph

Extract:

"If Age Concern objects to the semiotics of a hunched back and walking stick to depict residents of care homes, presumably they would rather an image that more accurately reflects older people in institutions.

Should the signs depict an elderly demented woman tied to a chair while staff ignore her? Or an elderly man in bed, slowly starving as his food tray is placed slightly out of reach day after day? Or people going blind because primary care trusts won't fund the medication to save their sight?

This is the plight of the elderly in hospitals and homes up and down Britain, and it's this that Age Concern should be concentrating on. I'm not sure how you'd capture these images in a sign that was easily readable at 30 miles an hour, but if you could, they would certainly make you slow down and think."

To stay as healthy and fit as possible as you get older, you need to minimise your intake of salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Elderly people are being "mistreated and abused" in hospitals and care homes, according to a new report by Age Concern

Elderly people abused in hospitals and care homes
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"Age Concern criticises the lack of progress made a year on from a parliamentary report that recommended an "entire culture change" to tackle human rights abuses experienced by older people in the NHS and care system.

The new report includes examples of older people being left to sit in their own excrement or denied food and water because the staff are too busy, being left naked in front of other patients, or being heavily sedated so they are easier to care for."

"Norma Scott said her father died of renal failure after the way he was treated in a Yorkshire hospital.

She said: "We were told my father needed to be given extra fluids for his kidneys, but he wasn't given any help to drink water or to pass fluids. He couldn't use the water jug left by his bed as he couldn't sit up.

"After six days I spoke to a doctor. When a drip and catheter was fitted, two litres of urine were drained off. He died of renal failure.

"My father should not have been treated this way. It took months to get my complaint heard and I have been battling for many more months to get the hospital to implement the Action Plan. No one checks change has happened - it's all taken on trust.""

And British politicians have the cheek to criticise other countries about human rights! Our dreadful, uncaring, extremely expensive NHS system should be scrapped.

Survey discloses that three out of four councils have cut free home support services for the elderly and the disabled in order to save money.

Three out of four councils are cutting care for elderly and disabled
Telegraph article

Extracts:

"The poll by the Local Government Association found that town halls are increasingly withholding support for all but those with the most severe needs, as Britain's ageing population puts their budgets under increasing strain.

This means that thousands of pensioners and disabled people must either pay for their own care - and scrimp on food and heating - or remain effectively trapped in their own homes with no help to carry out basic tasks such as eating or washing.

The LGA, which represents local authorities across the country, is calling for the Government to use a forthcoming Green Paper to simplify the social care system and increase its funding to ensure those in need are not denied help."

"Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, added: "These figures are further evidence that the care system is coming apart at the seams and needs urgent reform.

"It is disgraceful that people who need care and can't afford to pay are being told they simply won't get any help. It is positively Orwellian that these cuts are being delivered through a process known as 'Fair Access to Care Services'."

More than one in four adults admitted to hospitals, care homes or mental health units are suffering from malnutrition

One in four adults in hospital 'malnourished'

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"More than one in four adults admitted to hospitals, care homes or mental health units are suffering from malnutrition, the largest survey of its kind has found.

Women and the elderly were at greatest risk, says the report from the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (Bapen), which is published today.

More than 11,000 patients were screened for signs of being under-fed and 28 per cent were found to be malnourished."

"Patrick South, of Age Concern, said that food should be a high priority for hospital and care staff. "Not only do a significant amount of people arrive in hospital and care settings already malnourished, six out of 10 older people are at risk of becoming malnourished, or their situation getting worse in hospital.

"Malnutrition is still rife in the community, with up to 14 per cent of people aged 65 and over in the UK being malnourished."

Christine Russell, of Bapen, said that doctors, nurses and dietitians "must work to implement consistent nutritional screening policies to ensure that malnutrition is effectively addressed"."

Elderly people need better foot care service

Care failure traps elderly - Telegraph

Extract:

"ELDERLY people are being left housebound as a result of a lack of basic care to help them look after their feet, it was claimed today (Mon).

Thousands of pensioners are becoming increasingly disabled because the NHS is not providing simple services such as chiropody.

According to a report by Age Concern, many elderly people now risk hurting themselves in dangerous falls as they are not being given adequate care to help them look after their feet.

The NHS has recently cut back on services such as chiropody clinics in which elderly people are provided with basic services such as toe-nail cutting and relief for aches and pains.

As a result, a high proportion of older people have suffered a loss of mobility and independence because they can not walk.

Some are being forced to wait for weeks on over-subscribed waiting lists while others do not have access to any NHS clinics in their local area.

Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said: "Foot care services are failing older people and a postcode lottery is leaving those in some areas without any services at all.

"Some of the older people we have talked to are taking desperate measures including cutting their nails with gardening shears or kicking solid walls in their bare feet to break their nails."

One of the main reasons that old people are unable to cut their toenails themselves is that they have put on a lot of weight and they find it difficult to reach their feet properly. Cutting down on salt and salty food is the safe and simple way to lose some excess weight as this reduces fluid retention which is what has caused the weight gain.

Lose weight and improve your health by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html

(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Age Concern attacks 'care lottery' for elderly

Charity attacks 'care lottery' for elderly - Telegraph

Extract:

"Elderly people in some parts of Britain are up to 160 times more likely to have their bills for long-term NHS care paid for by the health service than others.

The unjustifiable postcode lottery was a public scandal and "beggared belief", said Age Concern, which obtained the information from the Department of Health.

The issue of who pays for "continuing care" is highly contentious as thousands of elderly people have to use their savings or even sell their homes to pay bills, while others get their care for free.

It is estimated that more than 70,000 elderly people have been forced to sell their homes.
Continuing care is defined as where the NHS is responsible for, and fully funds, health care outside hospital. It mostly affects very ill, older people in nursing homes, but the NHS can also fund care in a person's own home.

Age Concern's analysis of continuing care figures shows that in March, Derby City Primary Care Trust was giving just seven people continuing care, a figure which represents 0.26 people per 10,000.

Age Concern contrasted the figures with Harrow, which was giving 826 people continuing care, at a rate of 41.75 per 10,000 people, 160 times higher than Derby."

Older people are often denied medical treatment because of age discrimination.

Medical treatment 'denied to older people' - Telegraph

Extract:

"The report "Age of equality? Outlawing age discrimination beyond the work place" said these in-built discriminatory regulations, as well as unfair practices and ageist attitudes, meant older people often receive reduced care.

Calling for legislation to promote equality, Gordon Lishman, the director general of Age Concern, said: "Older people can be openly and unfairly discriminated against because of their age. It means they can be denied life-saving or life-enhancing treatment.""

You can reduce your risk of obesity, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, most cancers, osteoporosis and many other illnesses and degenerative conditions by eating less salt.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)