Protective steps to be strengthened

The government has indicated it will beef up measures to tackle
elder abuse following criticism of its lacklustre response to a
recent report by MPs (news, page 10, 1 July).

Community care minister Stephen Ladyman held discussions with Age
Concern, the Community and District Nurses Association and Action
on Elder Abuse just days after publication of the government’s
response and gave them assurances that some of their concerns would
be addressed.

He is also planning to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council next
week to discuss how to improve nurses’ training to better recognise
the signs of elder abuse.

Gary Fitzgerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said he
was “quietly confident” progress would be made on several issues.

“We would be quite surprised if we didn’t see domiciliary care
workers registered with the General Social Care Council within a
few months,” he added. This was one of the 40 recommendations of
the Health Select Committee’s inquiry into elder abuse, published
in April.

Speaking at a specially arranged parliamentary debate on elder
abuse last week, Ladyman told MPs that his intention was to
implement the Protection of Vulnerable Adults list on 26 July, but
that there were still a few legal issues to be resolved.

The list will enable employers to check whether a prospective
employee has been identified as someone who should not work with
vulnerable adults because of concerns of abuse.

Ladyman admitted it was a “compromise measure” but that waiting for
care workers to have full Criminal Records Bureau checks before
starting work would see older people left without the care they
needed.