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Summit Call on Abuse of Elderly
By Madeleine Brindley, IcWales.com
UK
July 21, 2005
A charity is calling for an urgent government summit following revelations of elderly NHS patients being neglected and abused.
An undercover nurse gathered video footage depicting harrowing scenes which included elderly patients in extreme pain.
The scenes, revealed on the BBC's Panorama last night, also showed the patients having their most basic needs ignored as well as being left dirty, wet and cold and sitting in their own urine.
Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said, "The Panorama programme was heartbreaking. At a time when we have a Healthcare Commission, targets designed to improve care quality for older people, and multiple reports all telling us that things are getting better, the reality for these old people was one of degradation and inhumanity.
"The Government keeps stating its desire to respect the dignity, autonomy and privacy of older people and yet on the ground the treatment meted out all too often falls short of the promises that have been made.
"What we saw last night was an environment that lacked even the most basic care and one that institutionally degraded and humiliated those people.
"Elderly citizens were hidden away, forgotten or ignored by professionals, and left to die.
"This is totally unacceptable and made worse, perhaps, by the fact that the hospital management knew about the horrendous treatment but failed to stop it."
The charity has called for urgent attention to be given to the scandal and is calling for a Downing Street summit to force change in the care of the elderly.
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