Nurses reveal wide problem of abuse

Nearly nine out of 10 district and community nurses in the UK have
come across abuse of older people in their work, with some claiming
it was happening regularly.

A survey of 5,000 senior nurses shows that in most cases the abuse
was inflicted by a family member.

But only 44 per cent of the nurses had been formally trained on
dealing with elder abuse and less than half said their employer had
a policy on this.

The Community and District Nursing Association has launched interim
guidelines to its members to help them identify and deal with elder
abuse.

The association’s chairperson, Rowena Smith, said the results
showed there was an urgent need to improve training.

“The association is calling for mandatory training for everyone in
the nursing profession in prevention, recognition and the
management of elder abuse,” she said.