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 Tony Robinson, one of our Patrons, talks about elder abuse...

It was my own experience watching my parents cope with their profound confusion which brought home to me how vulnerable and dependent so many older people are. 

Older people, especially those with dementia, are often totally reliant on others for some of their most basic needs. We need to be very conscious that we should be treating the elderly with the dignity and compassion we’d all want for ourselves.

But often this doesn't happen. Only a week before I wrote these words my girlfriend visited her dying grand-dad in hospital. He was unable to see and could hardly move. He told her it had been so long since the staff had given him anything to drink that he'd been reduced to weeing on his hand in order to moisten his lips. Having been a patron of Action on Elder Abuse since 2001, I know such incidents are all too common.

Elder abuse is still a sad fact of life and we, as a society, need to change our attitudes towards vulnerable older people. Only then will we have the right to look back on it with the same contempt with which we now view child labour.