MORE than one incident a day of elder abuse in Cork has been referred to the Health Service Executive already this year.
Figures released to the Evening Echo through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that 224 alleged incidents of elder abuse in Cork have been referred to the executive between January 1 and May 31 this year.
Last year, there were 390 alleged incidents referred to the executive from January to December.
The Health Service Executive said:
“Elder abuse is complex in nature with alleged persons causing concern most likely to be family members, namely adult children (47%), spouse (18%) and other relatives (16%), and to a lesser extent by carer (6%) and neighbours (4%).” According to the HSE, abuse can happen in many different settings.
A spokesman outlined:
“While most older people do not experience abuse, for those that do, it can manifest in different ways. Abuse can take place in any context; it may occur when an older person lives alone or with a relative, it may occur within residential or day care settings, in hospitals, home support services and other places assumed to be safe, or in public places.”
Campaigner for the elderly, Paddy O’Brien, likened relatives who undertake financial abuse of elderly people to “thieves in the night” who break into people’s homes.
“But in these cases, these people are the families of these elderly people,” he said
Health Service Excecutive.