Enacted 12 months ago, the Adult Support and Protection Act 2007, gives far greater powers and responsibilities to local authorities to assess and protect vulnerable adults.
Experts say that abuse is far more prevalent at home than in care homes and that policies and attitudes are at a stage with elder abuse where they were 25 years ago in relation to child abuse.
Most of Scotland’s 32 local authorities have established multi-disciplinary Adult Protection Committees to ensure that where concerns are raised they will be assessed by a range of professionals including social work and health.
The legislation allows authorities to make inquiries and take action when they suspect an adult may be at risk of harm, so appropriate support can be put in place to ensure the person at risk receives the help they need.
One of the most positive developments is the introduction of banning orders -- which allow social work to act on suspicions in a way they could not before -- restricting those who may be causing the harm. At least two banning orders have been implemented.
Many local authorities have established registers of older people “at risk” and in most cases the risk is deemed to be “from a family member”.
Those on such lists or registers include older people who have been physically and sexually abused, those considered too weak to look after themselves and those who have been duped into handing over their pension or property.
Ann Ferguson, of Age Concern and Help the Aged in Scotland, said: “When we spoke to older people ourselves we found they had a lot of difficulty reporting abuse because of the poor responses they got.
“We also found strong parallels with domestic abuse in that the abuse itself
stripped away people’s self-esteem so they didn’t have the confidence to report it or ask for help. Many of the older people we spoke to believed that mistreatment was just an unavoidable consequence of growing older.
“I worked exclusively on elder abuse for seven years, which involved campaigning for a change in legislation, which happened in 2007.
“Although it has taken some time for this new legislation to be implemented, we are confident that the duty to investigate concerns will
open the door for many older people who want the abuse to stop.”
To raise awareness of the issue, the Scottish Government has launched a poster and TV advertising campaign.
Developed by Age Concern and Help the Aged in Scotland, Alzheimer Scotland and Momentum in partnership with Scottish Government, it highlights the importance of speaking to someone if harm is suspected.
It spells out the forms of harm adults “at risk” may face, such as physical, sexual or psychological harm, neglect or being taken advantage of financially.
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