| Low Paid Caregivers a Risk for Elderly
A Union that represents workers in aged care residential homes and the community is marking World Elder Abuse Awareness Day by calling on District Health Boards and employers to quickly sort out their new contracts and give caregivers a desperately needed wage increase. Service and Food Workers Union National Secretary John Ryall says that the standard of care for elderly people is being put at risk through low pay, limited training and high caregiver turnover. .
Law Lords leave elderly out in cold
Families with relatives in care suffered a blow this week when the House of Lords ruled that human rights legislation did not protect the elderly or vulnerable placed by local authorities in private care homes from eviction or neglect. It is believed that as many as 300,000 residents of private care homes are funded by local authorities, and more than one in 10 homes are in the hands of the private or voluntary sector. But whereas residents who are in state-run homes are protected by human rights legislation, those in private care homes are not, even if their care is funded by their local authority. .
Thousands of elderly are abused, says study
Hundreds of thousands of elderly people are being abused in their own homes or in privately run residential homes, according to a study published today. Although the report indicated the rates of serious physical abuse and injury are relatively low, there is widespread evidence of bullying, neglect and low-level abuse at the hands of care workers. The report on abuse was conducted by researchers from the King’s Institute of Gerontology in London who have spent two years collecting data on abuse in care homes. It was funded by Comic Relief and supported by the Department of Health. The study claims that the elderly suffer from psychological, physical and sexual abuse, often at the hands of their own relatives. Adults are not offered the same protection from abuse under the law as children.
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