20,000 may be suffering abuse by relatives

THE number of elderly people who are being financially, physically, sexually or emotionally abused by members of their own family could be 10 times higher than official records show, a senior HSE officer has conceded.

The claim was made by Con Pierce, the HSE South’s dedicated officer for elder abuse.

He told the Irish Examiner that while 1,840 allegations of serious abuse of over-65s were made last year, the real national level could be between 14,000 to 20,000, with as many as 7,000 cases in Munster alone.

The official abuse figure is compiled in the Open Your Eyes: Elder Abuse Service Developments 2008 report on elderly abuse levels nationwide, which has for the first time provided a detailed breakdown of the tragic range of assaults inflicted on the elderly population.

The HSE South region includes Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and south Tipperary and is one of the best staffed areas in the country.

The region recorded a worrying 859 abuse cases last year — a figure on a par with the total national level in 2007.

However, Mr Pierce has warned that, as international research suggests 3%-5% of the elderly population are abused and anecdotal evidence indicates that elderly people are still reluctant to point the finger of blame, the reported level of abuse is dwarfed by the hidden reality of assaults on the elderly in Ireland.

Mr Pierce said: “1,840 cases were reported but the international evidence would say that this figure is really about 4,000 to 7,000 of the over-65 population in the HSE South, and 14,000 to 20,000 nationally.

“The fact is that a lot of older people are reluctant to report abuse when it happens. The majority of abuse, 83%, is from family members or carers the older person is dependent on, so they are in a very difficult situation when it happens.

“The type of abuse we’re talking about is psychological, financial, physical, sexual; and while we have to respect confidentiality there are some cases of real concern.”

Explaining, Mr Pierce said: “One would involve financial abuse where a person has designated a family member to look after their accounts and the money begins to disappear. There needs to be awareness of the support available for people in this situation.”

According to the HSE report, the vast majority (83%) of cases points to sons, daughters, spouses or other family members abusing elderly relatives.

However, just 12% of cases were reported by a family member with the majority of abuse taking place behind closed doors.

Psychological abuse was linked to 26% of reported abuse cases, with 19% involving neglect, 16% financial abuse, and 12% physical abuse, with sexual, emotional and other forms of abuse accounting for the remaining cases.

A total of 27 specialist case workers are currently employed in local health offices across the country to work on elderly abuse cases, with five more positions due to be filled this summer and three designated abuse officers split between the HSE West, South and Dublin Mid-Leinster regions respectively.

Anyone seeking to contact the support services can do so confidentially on the national helpline 1850-241-850.

* The HSE South’s dedicated officer for elder abuse, Con Pierce, can be contacted on 053-9123522.