Fighting back for the elderly
THERE is one group in society which is universally victimised, deprived of rights afforded to others, receives appalling treatment by the NHS, and is subject to increasing violent attack.
Some members of this group suffer levels of poverty so acute that they literally die from the cold every winter and yet their complaints are ignored by the authorities and their rights as citizens are not recognised.
I'm writing, of course, about the elderly.
Old people suffer levels of discrimination that it would be a criminal offence to apply to other groupings. It's time something was done about it. It's time for the emergence of the Militant Elderly.
This newspaper deserves great credit for its campaign to protect old people from violence. Our new Chief Constable has a reputation for championing community policing. It would be very good if he would be kind enough to outline his plans on how old people are to be made safer. If attacks on any other minority were running at four every day the pressure to do so would be irresistible.
Sadly fear of assault is not the only problem faced by old people. Earlier this week an extremely disturbing report was published which was largely ignored by the local media.
A report from the Alzheimer's Society revealed that half of Alzheimer's patients come out of hospital in worse health than when they went in. More than three quarters of relatives say that they are dissatisfied with the treatment received with one in three making an official complaint.
Here in Northern Ireland, as elsewhere in the UK patients are being left unfed with nothing to drink or sitting in their own urine. Many suffer weight loss, dehydration, pressure sores, incontinence or are even left unable to walk as a result of being in hospital.
The response by health professionals has been to call for more training.
This, by any standards, is a disgrace These old people are not being afforded the most basic levels of care: old fashioned traditional nursing. If instead of the elderly we were dealing with children, or expectant mothers, you can only imagine the furore. Official inquiries would be launched, heads would roll. The consequences would be severe.
But because these are old people this scandalous state of affairs can be dismissed as a training issue.
The measure of a society is how we treat our weakest and most vulnerable. On every conceivable level the elderly are being shamefully abused. It is time the fightback began.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
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