Elder abuse - A damning indictment of our society

DURING an address yesterday to the annual meeting of Age Action Ireland Brendan Drumm, chief executive of the Health Services Executive (HSE), announced plans to appoint 30 elder abuse officers to tackle the abuse of elderly people.

A working group, chaired by Desmond O Neill, looking into the abuse of old people initially recommended the appointments.

Professor Drum promised that recruiting of officers would begin immediately. His commitment to tackle this problem — given as part of the first Annual World Elder Abuse Day — should be warmly welcomed. But we should realise that the extent of the actual problem is not known.