Over half of all cases of abuse of elderly people are committed by a family member, figures released today have shown.
A new information campaign aimed at raising awareness of the abuse of elderly people has been launched by the Health Service Executive (HSE). The 'Open your Eyes' campaign is intended to draw people's attention to the issue of elder abuse and provide information on how to report it.
The HSE received over 600 notifications of alleged elder abuse from January to May of this year. Of these, 93 per cent of the alleged abuse referrals took place in the residence of the older person.
In 39 per cent of referrals, the alleged abuse was caused by an individual's son or daughter, while 20 per cent was undertaken by a spouse. In addition, 12 per cent of abuse referrals concerned other relatives.
In 56 per cent of cases referred to the HSE, the person causing concern was living with the older person.
"Any individual or organisation may be guilty of abuse. Most often it is someone well known to the older person, for example, a family member, relative, friend, care provider – a relationship where there is an expectation of trust," said Frank Murphy, chairperson of the HSE National Steering Committee on Elder Abuse this morning.
According to the HSE, there are several forms of mistreatment experienced by older people. In addition to physical, psychological and sexual abuse, many elderly people can find themselves experiencing financial or material abuse such as fraud and theft.
Financial abuse is the third most reported form of abuse in 2007 and 2008 and one of the most troublesome to identify because iof the difficulties to distinguish between acceptable financial transactions and exploitive exchanges.
