INDEPENDENT inspections of nursing homes nationwide are set to be delayed until late 2008 at the earliest, a conference on elder abuse heard yesterday.

CONCERNS were raised by a state agency that teenagers needing mental health services are being detained by court order in a locked facility simply because they can’t access help elsewhere.

SOME homes for troubled youngsters are too reliant on physically restraining or medicating their charges to control behaviour, a report has found.

UP TO 7,000 intellectually disabled adults are at risk of abuse because there are no independent inspections of the care homes they live in, disability groups warned yesterday.

AN INSPECTION of homes for children in State care has found a lack of suitably qualified staff, poor vetting procedures and youngsters on medication for psychiatric problems.