Gardaí probe sexual abuse of elderly

THE gardaí are investigating 18 cases of sexual abuse of elderly men and women in the North Eastern Health Board region.

The cases have been uncovered by a health board community care expert who said the forms of abuse could be emotional, physical and financial as well as sexual.

Austin Waters, whose job with the North Eastern Health Board is to protect elderly people and train others to do the same, said the situation in the north east was just the tip of the iceberg.

Nationally many more older people are being abused, he believes. On the issue of financial abuse, he has been told by one bank official of cases where elderly people are literally dragged into banks by sons, daughters or relations to make involuntary cash withdrawals. Elderly people were often similarly forced to hand over the rights to property also, he said.

Of the 18 cases of sexual abuse being investigated at present, four were allegedly carried out on elderly men.

Another involved a 90-year-old woman who was abused in a nursing home by a visitor. The abuse was facilitated by a family member.

Sexual abuse of the elderly is most likely to be committed by a family member and Mr Waters said it was impossible to quantify the number of elderly people being sexually abused.

The problem was often worsened by the fact that elderly people very often returned from hospitals or professional care to the very people who had abused them in the first place, Mr Waters said.

New legislation is needed to tackle the hidden problem of abuse of the elderly, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) believes.

The INO, which recently launched guidelines to help nurses understand and tackle the issue, said the problem was likely to increase as the population grows.

The guidelines were drawn up by a group of nurses who work solely with the elderly.

The nurses’ organisation wants to see the appointment 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 vary from burns, disrupted sleep, sudden alterations to wills, malnutrition to human bite marks.