CALL FOR DOWNING STREET SUMMIT FOLLOWING PANORAMA UNDERCOVER REPORT

The national charity Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) is to put out a call to Government for an urgent summit following last night’s undercover report by Panorama.

The programme, which followed an undercover nurse on an NHS hospital ward, depicted harrowing scenes which included elderly patients in extreme pain, having their most basic needs ignored as well as being left dirty, wet and cold and sitting in their own urine.

Said AEA chief executive, Gary FitzGerald  “The Panorama programme shown by BBC last night was heartbreaking.  At a time when we have a Healthcare Commission, targets designed to improve care quality for older people, and multiple reports all telling us that things are getting better, the reality for these old people was one of degradation and inhumanity.

The Government keeps stating its desire to respect the dignity, autonomy and privacy of older people and yet 'on the ground' the treatment meted out all too often falls short of the promises that have been made. What we saw last night was an environment that lacked even the most basic care and one that institutionally degraded and humiliated those people. Elderly citizens were hidden way, forgotten or ignored by professionals, and left to die.  This is totally unacceptable and made worse, perhaps, by the fact that the hospital management knew about the horrendous treatment but failed to stop it”.

Continued FitzGerald  "I am angry.  Angry because we have been talking for too long about the treatment meted out to our old people in hospitals and other institutions. And yet, despite all the promises, it continues.

The National Health Service is failing some of the most vulnerable people in our society and there seems to be a culture of acceptance among professionals that is staggering and frightening. 

Two weeks ago we had a GP describing elderly people as 'crinkly old gits' and 'senile old bags of bones' and last night we saw how such attitudes are reflected in reality.

We need urgent attention to be given to this scandal and we are now calling for a No 10 summit to force this situation to change.  It is only a commitment by Government at that level that will make a difference".

FitzGerald will be writing to Tony Blair, urging him to make the care and treatment of older people a major domestic priority.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS