Elder abuse in some care homes is "appalling"
17/12/2007
Tied up, strapped to chairs, drugged, and locked up - the restraint of older people is under-reported in care homes, says The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) who have today (17 December) published a report (Rights, Risks and restraints’), stating that "evidence from inspectors’ reports reveal that levels of restraint are much higher than those recorded by staff in care homes".
They say that "Inspection reports identified a tacit reluctance to acknowledge that restraint occurs". The report describes older people being held in bed; strapped into wheelchairs; blocked by chairs, tables or stools; dragged by their hair and tied into chairs; left in soiled pads for up to three hours; sedated; locked into rooms; and threatened or intimidated.
Gary FitzGerald, Chief Executive of Action on Elder Abuse (AEA), said: "This is an appalling situation that warrants immediate and urgent action and collaboration between regulators and care providers to stamp out such behaviour. These abuses are intolerable and go way beyond debates about lack of dignity. Restraint turns care into imprisonment and we should not accept it."
Noting that it is three years since the Health Select Committee recommended the production of this report, FitzGerald continued, "It is difficult to quantify how many older people have been restrained in that period of time, but it is more difficult to understand why the report does not recommend more immediate and concrete action to prevent further such abuse.
"While we applaud CSCI in updating their guidance for inspectors on restraint, we feel that this matter requires a far more robust approach. Last year CSCI produced a similar report on medication abuse, but there is no evidence that it resulted in a reduction in such abuse within the care home sector. This is just not acceptable".
Expressing concern that elder abuse is becoming an accepted fact, but not receiving the level of urgency that it merits, FitzGerald concluded. "If we were talking about the doping of children we would demand immediate action. If we were talking about tying up children, or forcing them to stay for hours in soiled nappies, we would demand immediate action. So why is it unacceptable for a 7 year old, but acceptable for a 70 year old?
"This is not an academic debate. It is about pain and humiliation and suffering, and we need it recognised as such. Discussion documents are of course useful contributions to a greater understanding of the issue, but abuse demands immediate action and that appears missing."
AEA have consequently written to CSCI on this matter.