The abuse of elderly people has been raised in the House of Commons by West Chelmsford MP, Simon Burns.
He told the Commons during a debate on the subject that he wished the government would be more adventurous with definitions of such abuse.
'The obvious ones - physical, sexual and psychological abuse, financial or material abuse neglect, acts of omission, and discriminatory abuse - will come to everyone's mind, but as has been pointed out, the majority of care of the elderly is domiciliary and carried out in the home, and that is potentially far more dangerous in terms of opportunities for abuse,' he said.
Mr Burns said later 'The issue of elder abuse is a hidden problem in society which is too often ignored. In comparison to child abuse, which has quite rightly received a very high profile over recent years, and has thus received action from the government who have introduced controls and measures to identify and tackle that problem, elder abuse remains very much in the background.'
Published Wednesday July 14, 2004
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