Half of elder abuse carried out by son, daughter

There has been a 7% increase in cases of elder abuse referred to the HSE last year, almost half of which was carried out by a son or daughter.

In total, when referrals of self-neglect only are excluded, there were 1,923 referrals to the HSE last year. There has been an increase of 30% in referrals since the first full year of data collection in 2008.

Psychological abuse was the most common type of abuse reported, at 36%, followed by financial abuse (25%), neglect (19%), and physical abuse (13%).