Why do we beat up and blackmail our lonely and vulnerable old folk?
Bill Heaney
A huge number of elderly people could currently be being subjected to “frankly terrifying abuse” which takes many forms, the Scottish Parliament was told this week.
Thousands of people are affected, with estimates ranging from perhaps the best part of 150,000 people, at the lower end, to upwards of 200,000 people.
“It is therefore really important that action is taken,” according Lesley Carcary, of Action on Elderly Abuse Scotland.
She added: “From our research and recent prevalence studies, we estimate that around nine per cent of over-65s in Scotland have experienced some form of elder abuse, which might be physical, sexual, financial or psychological abuse, or neglect.
“We think that that is likely to be the tip of the iceberg, because in our experience many older people are reluctant to speak up.”
Adam Stachur, of Age Scotland, said studies from the World Health Organisation put the proportion of older people who could be subject to elder abuse at nearer to 16 per cent.
“We have 1.65 million people over 65, so even if the rate of elder abuse is at the lower end of the estimates and nearer to 10 per cent, we are talking about a huge number of people who could be being subjected to frankly terrifying abuse.”
Asked in which parts of the country, this abuse was most prevalent, Lesley Carcary said: “It is very difficult to tell. The best statistics that we can get are based on the adult support and protection statistics that are collected in each local authority area biennially.
“Unfortunately, those statistics are collected in different ways, which means that it is difficult to get a national picture.
“We run a national helpline, which gets more calls from urban areas, but I do not think that that is an indication of there being more elder abuse in urban areas.
“Remote areas tend to be less well served by other support services and there tends to be less access to information, so it can be difficult to let people in remote areas know that support is available, which might mean that they are less likely to speak up.”
Gordon Paterson, of the Care Inspectorate, said: “The Inspectorate registers and inspects 13,500 care services, including 832 care homes for older people.
“We are for ever debating and wrestling with the question of when poor care becomes neglect, neglect becomes harmful and harmfulness constitutes criminality, and then there is the challenge of pursuing effective prosecutions with regard to the public interest, the reliability of witnesses and the ability to prove things beyond reasonable doubt.
“It is therefore very difficult to put a figure on prevalence; it is also difficult to deduce from that whether particular parts of the country face particular challenges.
“People in rural and remote areas are no less vulnerable than those in urban areas.”
John Finnie MSP asked whether someone is more likely to be subjected to abuse if they are in an institution instead of in their house?
Ms Carcary said their evidence suggests that someone is much more likely to be abused or harmed in their own home than in care settings, and they had found that the majority of abuse comes from family members, with a fairly even split between partners and spouses, and grown-up children and other relatives.
She added: “We have heard of cases in which carers or other health professionals have been the perpetrators, but in the vast majority of cases, the perpetrators are, unfortunately, family members—in other words, the abuse involves someone who is very well known to the older person and takes place in their own home.”
Mr Strachur said: “Given the length of time that someone might live in their own home in comparison with how long they might live in a care home, they might be subjected not necessarily to a one-off instance of abuse but to abuse over a prolonged period of time from a family member, close friend or paid-for care worker in their own home.
“But for many people, elder abuse will happen over a long period of time, not on a one-off occasion.”
Ms Carcary said loneliness was one of the biggest problems – “loneliness and social isolation are among the biggest factors in older people choosing not to report harm or abuse.
“We have heard of older people choosing to put up with abuse rather than risk having their grown-up son not visiting, and of grown-up children bribing older parents by saying, ‘If you tell anyone about this, you’re not going to see your grandchildren’.
She added that for a lot of older people, the fear of loneliness is actually greater than the fear of abuse, and as a result, they choose to put up with it, unfortunately, rather than tell anyone about it.
“We have heard evidence of older people handing back free call blockers that are intended to block nuisance calls, because they were so lonely they would rather speak to scammers than be on their own.
“We would class scams and doorstep crime as forms of abuse, too. I think that that indicates some of the reasons why so few people speak up about the issue.”
John Finnie asked whether all aspects of elder abuse should be considered criminal.
But Ms Carcary replied: “Not always. One of the main differences between how elder abuse and domestic abuse are dealt with is that, with domestic abuse, the approach is all about empowering the woman to take decisions and actions to keep herself safe, get out of the situation in which she finds herself and seek justice through the criminal justice system.
“Unfortunately, as far as older people are concerned, the prevailing view is quite a paternalistic one—in other words, here is a poor older person who needs our help and support—and we therefore tend to find that elder abuse cases are primarily social worked rather than prosecuted.
We keep an eye on media stories on abuse in care homes—abuse in private homes is not as well publicised—and we find, quite often, that the carer in question is struck off the register, disciplined or sacked.
“In such cases, we always write to the media, pointing out that a criminal charge was not considered and asking why.
“We also find that in cases involving a younger person or child, criminal charges will be considered in the first instance, but I am sad to say that that is not the case for older people.
“The first response tends to be adult support and protection, which we agree is good, but we cannot forget about the criminal aspects.
“If we do, older people will not speak up. Without any effective deterrent, the problem of elder abuse will continue.”
