back
|
 |
Hidden plague of sexual abuse grips care homes
By: Amelia Hill
The Observer, February 25, 2001
Professionals refused to believe it at first, but there is now undeniable evidence that the abuse of old people in homes is on a level with the paedophile menace.
When 84-year-old Katherine Barnes stopped talking, her family assumed it was simply an inevitable stage in the slide towards Alzheimer's that began some years earlier.
Soon afterwards, she became transfixed with terror every time her formerly beloved son-in-law entered the room of her nursing home, and her family told each other how sad it was that the illness was taking control so quickly.
It was only when John Tiplady, owner of the £350-a-week Denison House nursing home in North Yorkshire, was arrested for sexual attacks on the elderly women in his care that the family began to piece together a number of strange incidents that had slipped their notice at the time. Katherine Barnes has since died.
'Mother wasn't listed as a victim in the court case because the authorities didn't seem to want to go into it, but we have our doubts,' Glenda
Ruddock, Katherine's daughter, told The Observer . 'None of the children whose mothers were abused knew what was going on and I don't know what's worse: thinking about what might have happened to my mother or knowing for certain that it did.'
Tiplady, 64, was sentenced to four years in jail by judge Jonathan Crabtree, who told him that his actions were 'so disgusting as to be almost beyond belief'. That was in 1997. But The Observer has found that the sexual abuse of old people by care workers is still going on today and could be as common as that suffered by children in the days before the paedophile problem was
recognised.
'Anyone who bothers to look into it cannot fail to realise that the sexual abuse of elderly people in care homes is horribly prevalent,' said Ginny
Jenkin, director of Action for Elder Abuse, whose helpline has received around 160 calls from frantic families and care homes since 1997 concerning extreme sexual abuse in care homes, a figure she says grossly underrepresents the true level of the abuse taking place.
'People find it hard to understand why anyone would want to abuse an old person, but someone suffering some mental and physical frailty is the perfect victim: they can't defend themselves, they can't get away, and if they're able to communicate they're probably not believed. What more could any abuser want?' she said.
'It's not about sex, it's about power,' she added. 'There are even pages on paedophile websites encouraging men finding it hard to access children to gain employment at care homes. They say the sex is just as good and there's far less risk of getting caught.'
The number of those abused are unknown: a national survey has never taken place, despite attempts by campaigners to get the Government to fund the research. Jackie Pritchard, the country's sole specialist in this area, has been battling against scepticism and apathy for more than 15 years.
'This sort of abuse is endemic in all but the best care homes,' she said. 'The whole spectrum of abuse, from inappropriate touching to rape, takes place in exactly the same way as child abuse took place in days gone past: there is exactly the same targeting of homes, the same grooming of particularly vulnerable victims, and the same patterns of mobility and planning in the abusers. It's a massive scandal just waiting to break. All we need is the government funding to prove it's as bad as we know it is.'
More than 250,000 of the elderly population live in Britain's 23,000 residential and nursing homes, but the possibility that elderly people could be sexually abused by carers is one that even professional people find hard to comprehend. It was not until 1991, when the first paper written on the issue was published in America, that the subject was discussed. The US paper catalysed Malcolm Holt, a social worker with Northumberland County Council, to launch his own investigation. In two years Holt uncovered over 120 cases of serious sexual abuse around the country; 85 per cent involved victims over 75 and almost 90 per cent targeted those completely dependent on their abusers for care.
After three years spent trying to gain the attention of a highly sceptical professional establishment, an exhausted Holt gave up. Since the publication of his paper in 1993, a resounding silence has enveloped the issue. 'Elder sexual abuse is the most hidden form of abuse in the country,' Holt maintained. 'In recent years, we have become accustomed to reports of elderly people being sexually assaulted and raped by strangers, but acknowledging that they are routinely sexually abused by carers is far more challenging.'
One of the problems is the lack of regulations covering those who can work in residential homes. 'It's a totally unregulated workforce,' said
Jenkin. Nurses struck off for abuse and refused work in nursing homes often gain employment in residential homes instead, hoodwinking home owners who, battling against a highly mobile and sparse workforce, routinely accept employees after the shortest of interviews without even checking references.
Home owners have no obligation to check the criminal records of employees and Jenkin estimates that fewer than 5 per cent of homes bother to do so. Another concern is the lack of training that many care workers have received. Although training costs home owners £400, plus the cost of employing a part-time replacement, it would cost less than £80 million for the Government to train every care worker in the country to a suitable NVQ level.
The Government has gone some way towards acknowledging that abuse by care workers is a problem: by next year it aims to establish the national Protection of Vulnerable Adults list which, in the same way as List 99 already does for children, contains the details of all workers who have been dismissed or disciplined while working in care homes.
But, according to Jenkin, the list is not enough. 'It won't include people who left homes under a cloud. We know from paedophiles how cunning and mobile these people are. This list will only include a fraction of the dangerous people targeting these homes.'
Ruddock said: 'We did everything we could think of to ensure that our mother was safe and happy.' Denison House, set in five acres of countryside with a lake and large, airy rooms, had a waiting list of people to get in. 'It was charging over the odds for rooms but it was recommended by our doctor,' said
Ruddock, who made an effort to know the staff and visited a number of times a week.
'I can't bear the thought that I might have let her down like this,' she said. 'If something did happen, I can't stop wondering about how much she knew about it and how terrifying it must have been.'
Catalogue of assault
According to the Action for Elder Abuse handbook, there are five main types of abuse in care homes:
• Physical : includes hitting and restraining, or giving too much - or the wrong - medication.
• Psychological: shouting, swearing, frightening or humiliating a person.
• Financial: illegal or unauthorised use of a person's property, money, pension book or other valuables.
• Sexual: forcing a person to take part in any sexual activity without his or her consent.
• Neglect : where a person is deprived of food, heat, clothing, comfort or essential medication.
Before choosing a care home: Visit several care homes before picking the right one. Ask for proof of the training staff receive. Make friends with staff and discuss the care in detail. Visit your relation frequently and at unpredictable times of day. If you are worried that a care worker is abusing a relative, discuss the problem first with the owner of the care home. Ask for proof of the medication your relative receives. If you are still concerned, contact Action for Elder Abuse on 020 8764 7648 who will advise on the best way of dealing with the situation. Lobby your local MP to press for government funding for staff training and research into abuse.
amelia.hill@observer.co.uk
|
