Goverment Secretary Needed To Protect the Elderly

A SOUTH Cumbrian MP is calling on a government minister to protect older people from abuse. Tim Farron the Liberal Democrat MP questioned the adequacy of care home inspection regulations.

He raised the issue during Heath questions in Parliament this week saying that according to Help the Aged 500,OOO people are victims of elder abuse.

And Mr Farron claims there have also been lots of complaints about abuse of the elderly...

Mr Farron asked Heafth Minister Ivan Lewis about the Department of Healths opinion on the regulations designed to prevent abuse of the elderly.

Speaking to the Evening Mail Mr Farron said: Help the Aged says there are 500,OOO who are victims of elder abuse in the country . Then I asked the authority to investigate they either can't or they don't have the powers

In Parliament Mr Farron asked the minister if in light of the Help the Aged report the department considers the guidelines to be stringent enough to prevent such abuse.

Mr Farron says a number of his constituents have contacted him about concerns that the regulatory body the Commission for Social Care Inspection does not have the power to reprimand a care home appropriately if ft is found to be in breach of any of the regulations.

In response to Mr Farron~s question about CSCI the minister said: The report is shocking and there is unfortunately an issue of abuse in care homes.

We clearly need solutions to tackle these issues

Mr Farron said: The regulatory body for conduct in care homes would appear to be completely toothless.

If a school was found to be seriously failing Ofsted would not stand idly by and let it continue they would come down on the school extremely hard and rightly so.

We need a system for care homes which is at least as effective as the system for schools which can be clearly understood by everybody. The procedures need to be laid out in such a way that complainant can see precisely where their case has reached and what the next step will be.

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Completely toothless , how much this article reminds of the conversation that I had with Clay Kellam -Adult Protective Services Investigator (Polk County)and her supervisor, a few days before Clara was left alone in a Hotel Room, Drugged , alone and helpless.

I was told that the DCF lacks police powers and were powerless to do anything to protect Clara from the inevitable fall that followed and left Clara G. Fernandez speechless, partially paralyzed ,terrified and completely incapacitated , this before Judge Von Hof came to Clara's rescue and issued the order that made it possible for Clara to be reunited with her husband Dr. A.J. Fernandez who died shortly thereafter from the stress of the situation.