RADICAL NEW HEALTH PROPOSALS CAN HELP COMBAT ELDER ABUSE

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 23rd Jan 2008

A local Euro MP has welcomed the radical and personalised plans for older people's care launched by the Liberal Democrats, saying that if enacted they would cut down cases of elder neglect and abuse by guaranteeing a minimum level of care, improving choice, and giving greater access to information and advice.

Liz Lynne MEP is Co-Chair of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Ageing and Vice President of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, and has long campaigned on social care and age discrimination issues, including a recent campaign to stop elder abuse across the EU.

Speaking today she said:

"The 'Care Guarantee' proposals are radical and ambitious, but practical, by giving individuals more rights and choice in how they use the resources available to them.

"But while a minimum service provision for all is guaranteed, regardless of ability to pay, it is not only financially where these plans would make a difference.

"Improved mechanisms to challenge unacceptable standards of care, and improved access to information and advice would make a real difference in the estimated half a million UK cases of elder abuse.

"In 80% of cases, the abuser is known to the victims and this includes abuse in their own home or in a care home, be it physical, mental or financial. Were these proposals to come to fruition, better tools would be in place to combat the potential for abuse, including information and advice on rights and entitlements to carers. This would reduce the possibility of a care relationship breaking down to the extent where an abuse may be committed."

On the importance of European cooperation on the subject, Liz added:

"These proposals make good use of experiences in other EU Member States and this is something we must build on. We need to increase research and exchange of good practice, so that in the future no one need suffer the abuse endured by so many vulnerable older people at the present."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Liz Lynne MEP has hosted several seminars on elder abuse and age discrimination, most recently giving a keynote speech on elder abuse at a major Help the Aged conference in London in December 2007.

At the Liberal Democrat autumn party conference in September 2007, Liz Lynne presented a motion on ending elder abuse across the EU, which is expected to be voted on by the party in 2008. She has also tabled several European Parliamentary questions on the subject.

Full details on the healthcare proposals can be found here: http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/nick-clegg-sets-out-his-vision-for-a-peoples-health-service1.13722.html