Those who abuse the elderly should be severely punished

The governments proposed help for the elderly to afford care is probably welcome to some and a step in the right direction.

What worries me though is that I have seen the abuse that some poor elderly people receive in social care homes.

I had one Aunt who was always an immaculately turned out lady, who descended from French aristocracy who was forced on account of becoming inform to sell her home in Wales and go into a private nursing home.

The said home usually insisted on us advising them that we would call on our Aunt before doing so, but on one occasion my family and I called by on speck and asked to see our Aunt. To our utter horror she was lying in bed on soaking we newspapers, put on top of the base sheet because she was incontinent.

Our Aunt cried saying her bottom was sore and red raw, and she was in terrible pain.
She told us that she had been left lying on these soaked newspapers all day and that on some days they had left her sat on a commode all day.

To see the appalling state a former immaculate Aunt was reduced to was heartbreaking.

Her bedroom shared with two other residents stunk of urine and they were expected to eat meals in there.

We realized that this was why our Aunt was so think and like a living skeleton, she was so put off her food by the stench of urine that she couldn't bear to eat.

We reported the home and removed our Aunt from it with immediate effect, and the owners were prosecuted for abuse and neglect of the elderly.

Another Aunt who had to give up her home to go into a council run care home was also found in a similar state when we called unexpectedly on her, we alerted her children in Canada and she was able to escape a similar plight.

A third Aunt also related to French Aristocracy and immaculately turned our, refused point blank to go into a home after she fell and broke her femur and was left housebound, too scared to go out ever again. I gave up hospital nursing to move in with her and I nursed her until she died, I just could not bear to see a third member of my family being abused and neglected.

There should be money available to help people to remain in their own homes and to get the caring and second to none help and support they need and have the right to choose whether they want to remain at home or go into social care.

The social care homes should be forced to accept regular inspections by an agency set up to do just that, so that abuse, neglect and cruelty toward the elderly is never allowed to happen again.

There are many more elderly people suffering the same way as my Aunts did and this must be stopped.

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