Elder abuse is a hate crime

Figures released on UN World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on 14 June showed that just 0.7% of all crimes against older people in the UK end in a conviction. The charity, Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) said the figures pointed to clear institutional ageism, with too many crimes being seen as a social problem instead of a criminal one. Gary Fitzgerald, AEA Director said: "Commit a crime against someone because of their age and you will probably get little more than a slap on the wrist. This needs to change and the impact of the crime can in some instances lead to admission into care or even death. This needs to be recognised in law as a hate crime," he added.

BBC research has also shown that more than 23,000 allegations of abuse have been made against carers working in people's homes across the UK in the last two years. Official figures recently revealed that up to 11,000 care home residents were not being properly fed, or left without food and drink. Older people are also often actively harmed, often by those who are meant to be caring for them or are increasingly targeted by those who are behind financial scams. For every instance of financial abuse that comes to light, 24 cases are thought to go unreported. Visit the Elder Abuse website here.

Info from the NPC's July Bulletin - borrowed with thanks.

Tory Government continues to use Social Care as a political football

Apparently having learned nothing from their car crash of an Election Manifesto the Tories now have a new plan to improve social care.

After reducing funding on social care by £4.6 Billion since 2010 particularly through the cuts in Local Authority Budgets, the new plan is to get the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to inspect the failing and underfunded social care system. If the arrangements are found to be unsatisfactory the Government can impose a financial penalty on the relevant Local Authority rather than allow it to access funding from the Governments ‘Better Care Fund’ into which they have invested £2billion – just £2.6Billion short of the money they have taken out of social care funding.

This approach is being championed by none other than NHS saviour Jeremy Hunt. ‘Simples’ the answer was staring us in the face all along? Even Tory cheerleader the Daily Telegraph is struggling to get its head around this latest panic measure - read more here.

Eddie Spence
ARMS

Care in Crisis under the Tories

The Tory manifesto is a vague recipe for extending poverty not equality.

The Tory Government's 'Couldn't care less' attitude has led to record care home closures and an industry in crisis. Reports in the media have continued to reveal that since coming to office in 2010, the Tories promised improvement and delivered just the opposite. Their ideological dislike of local councils, cuts to their funding and deterioration of the 'care home industry' show no signs of stopping. £4.6 billion has been cut from Care funding since 2010 and when the human costs start to rise their best response is to say they may give £2 billion back - still leaving a massive £2.6 million credibility gap in their plans for Care.

Now the Tory manifesto promises that the cost of care will be met by the people who need the care themselves. Poverty amongst pensioners has increased under the Tories to almost 2 million. PM May now says the old in need of care must pay for themselves. There is of course no detail about how this is going to work. Vague references to 'means testing' criteria provide no detail about what that is and who will profit from their plans. More importantly: who will lose? The Manifesto refers to "those with modest or medium wealth". Where does that analysis start and end? Is it May’s own level of wealth? Well that is difficult to say as she has hidden her assets away in a Trust Fund. The only thing we have to go on is 7 years of broken Tory promises.

This isn't just about old people. When a person goes into a Care Home it involves whole families and different generations in managing not just the financial but the emotional cost of looking after their family member. The responsibility for the decline of 'Care' in our communities lies at the door of the Tory Government and even their own 'fanzine' the Mail recognises this. The following coverage looks more at these issues. This debate will run until and beyond the General Election.

Please share your thoughts on this Blog (comments section below).

Tory manifesto: more elderly people will have to pay for own social care - here.

More than 2,000 elderly and ill people die while waiting for care at home: Worse cases saw patients waiting nine months for treatment - here.

General election 2017: parties must be clear how they will solve social care crisis - here.

Eddie Spence
ARMS Vice Chair