Elderly are being abused, say nurses

NEW legislation is needed to tackle the hidden problem of abuse of the elderly, nurses warned yesterday.

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) said abuse of older people both in their homes and care facilities has been recognised as a growing worldwide problem.

“Our older generation deserves to be treated with the highest possible standards of dignity and care together with all of the required resources to ensure that their needs are fully met,” INO general secretary Liam Doran said.

The INO, which was launching a series of guidelines to help nurses understand and tackle the issue, said this problem was likely to expand alongside the rapidly growing ageing population.

The guidelines, which were drawn up by a group of nurses who work solely with the elderly, show there are many types of abuse which may trouble the elderly, including physical, psychological, financial, neglect, discriminatory or sexual.

Mr Doran said the guidelines would be presented to the new Health Minister, Tánaiste Mary Harney, and urged her department to develop legislation covering the issue.

The INO called for all health agencies looking after the elderly to put the guidelines in place. They also called for the establishment of an Ombudsman for the older person, full implementation of the 2001 Health Strategy and the funding of a public awareness campaign.

The guidelines advise nurses to be aware of signs, which include burns, disrupted sleep, sudden alterations to wills, malnutrition and human bite marks.

Nurses will also be informed of the reporting procedure to adopt in cases of suspected abuse.

INO president Madeline Spiers said that in many elderly care units around the country just one nurse was being left to look after 40 patients during a night shift.

The nurses’ representative union said there were no figures relating to abuse of the elderly. But the INO revealed comparisons with international figures would show around 21,500 elderly people were possibly being subjected to some form of abuse at any one time.

“We, as nurses, cannot give a quality assured service in this area due to the indifference, over many years, of health agencies and the political system,” Ms Spiers said.

“Our current staffing levels are completely inadequate, fail to reflect the increasing dependency of our patients and confirm our employers’ total lack of understanding of how this impacts on patient care.”

The INO claimed a study carried out for the South Western Area Health Board in 2002 revealed there were not enough nurses to appropriately cater for the needs of residents in care homes.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha, industrial relations officer, said: “The INO is very disappointed with the lack of priority afforded to this report, which clearly demonstrates that the nursing hours available to elderly patients in all but two of the SWAHB facilities are less than adequate.”