Elderly abused in home care because of ingrained ageism

A REPORT by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into council-run home care has revealed 'systematic failure' in the care of the elderly. It's the latest in a string of recent reports, including one into hospital care, to disclose the serious neglect and abuse of the elderly in state-funded care. Some commentators have blamed funding cuts, others failures in human rights education. But are these just symptoms of a deeper problem?
 
Britain's uncivilised treatment of the elderly
How we treat our elderly defines us as a nation, says an editorial in The Daily Telegraph. With demographic trends pointing to greater longevity, there is no bigger social issue confronting this country. It is clear from this report, as from other studies, "that the system is close to, or beyond, breaking point".
 
Welcome to 'civilised' Britain 2011, says an editorial in The Daily Mail. The horrifying findings were by no means unusual, but part of a pattern of routine neglect and cruelty to the elderly, "hideously familiar" in a recent stream of reports.
 
The truth is, says the Mail, that as a nation "we have lost that instinctive respect evident in even the poorest African village for the parents and grandparents to whom we owe such a debt".  
 
Need for legislation
Given the abuse encountered, it is remarkable that although the Equality Act contains provisions banning age discrimination in services, these are yet to come into force, says Randeep Ramesh in The Guardian. They require a ministerial order that has been forestalled by critics who think it will add to "red tape".
 
With deep cuts already in the pipeline, says Ramesh, the commission warns that the emphasis is already on "saving pennies rather than providing a service which will meet the very real needs of our grandparents, our parents, and eventually all of us".
 
But rather than question our species' essential decency, blogs Ed West in The Daily Telegraph, the Equality and Human Rights Commission says the abuses came about because the carers weren't trained in human rights.

Can't the old, sick and vulnerable be treated with decency, care and respect just out of basic humanity and, indeed, professionalism, without new human rights being created and more lawyers enriched? asks West. "How did Britain manage to treat its old folks relatively well all these years without giving them full access to the Human Rights Act? It's a mystery."

It's about politics
For more than a decade local authorities have been steadily cutting back on services to the elderly, for the cynical reason that they have little political voice, says Steve Doughty in the Daily Mail. The problem is, there are a lot of people ­ including council managers – "trying to shove their snouts into the public spending trough, and old people have been elbowed out in the rush".
 
It's ageism
It's not just about money, says Geraldine Bedell in The Independent. Underlying lack of funding is a deeply ingrained ageism. Old people are mistreated because "old people are loathed in our culture and caring for them is seen as something faintly degrading".
 
Ageism is widespread, from casual ageist remarks, to the fear of growing old, adds Bedell. And "the most casual, innocent forms lay the ground for pernicious cruelty". ·