Photograph: copyright PA
Some Senior Citizens receive the care and respect they deserve. Baroness Thatcher meets a group of Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Hospital in London
I saw Mrs Thatcher last week. I didn’t ask for an appointment so didn’t experience the ignominy of being turned down, like Sarah Palin. It was an utterly unexpected encounter and to be honest, it took me a full few minutes before I realised who she was. If it hadn’t been for the heavy-booted security detail, complete with ear piece, walking a few paces behind, I might not have recognised her at all.
It was one of those glorious early summer afternoons we’ve been enjoying so often lately. The psycho-spaniels and I were just enjoying the last few yards of our daily constitutional in a central London park when our elderly American Cocker, Buster, cantered blindly into the ankles of a smartly dressed, middle-aged lady, who was slowly accompanying a rather older one, along the path leading to the bandstand.
“I’m so sorry,” I garbled. “I’m afraid, he is getting on now and he’s losing his sight”. No harm had been done and both ladies bent down, to pat the offending hound and declare what a lovely looking dog he was. The older lady had a particularly beatific smile. I put him back on the lead and wished them both good afternoon. As I turned to go, the policewoman – I could now see the radio attached to her belt – shot me a knowing look, as if letting me into some huge secret. No wonder the old lady had looked so familiar.
I’m not quite sure why, but the whole four minutes left me strangely moved. I like to think that I am too young to have strong views on what Mrs T. achieved – or not – as prime minister (1979-1990), but I was touched to see that the former Iron Lady, who suffers from dementia, was immaculately turned out for her 85 years and was patently cherished and being extremely well-cared for in the autumn of her years.
Sadly, this is far from the case for so many other elderly and vulnerable adults, as we in the UK saw earlier this week with a truly shocking piece of investigative journalism for the BBC’s Panorama current affairs programme. An undercover reporter filmed scenes of physical and verbal abuse of patients with autism and learning difficulties at a private hospital near Bristol.
I didn’t watch the entire programme. I’m afraid I just couldn’t. It was all too familiar. On more than one occasion, I had to rescue my late father from an unfamiliar care home, where he had been temporarily dumped and where, invariably, most of the staff were simply too over-worked or too unfamiliar with the specifics of Dad’s condition to care for him properly. This meant that all too frequently he was left horribly upset, in pain and discomfort and without a vestige of his once considerable dignity.
I complained, of course, but in my own distress and outrage, my best journalistic instincts went out of the window. I quite forgot to switch on the secret video, as Panorama reporter Joe Casey did at Winterbourne View. I was too preoccupied with changing Dad’s faeces-full trousers, calming him down and cleaning him up, to whip out my smart phone camera and document the damning evidence. When Wakefield Social Services called me a liar, I had nothing - on film - to prove that, sadly, my allegations were all too true.
In the noisy aftermath of the Panorama show, many people asked why it took a covert investigation to bring this abuse to the attention of a suitably horrified public. A former senior nurse at the unit, Terry Bryan, had reported his fears to the regulator, the Care Quality Commission, three times before he went, in desperation, to the BBC. Read a thoughtful response by Action on Elder Abuse CEO Gary FitzGerald here.
There has also been the predictably hollow cacophony of stable doors slamming, with Care Minister Paul Burstow pledging to strengthen existing safeguards for vulnerable adults. Here I quote from Mr Burstow himself, who told the BBC: "It comes as a surprise to people that the statutory basis for the safeguarding of vulnerable adults in this country is much weaker than that which exists for children”.
That’s right. The elderly and other vulnerable adults in this country have far, far fewer legal safeguards against abuse than children, than most domestic pets. The innocent cat dumped into a wheelie bin by YouTube villainess Mary Bale had more statutory protection than the patients at Winterbourne View. A goldfish or a budgie enjoys more legal redress than my father had in his final years, ravaged by dementia, living in terror of people who claimed to be caring for him, individuals he should have been able to trust.
It’s a bit late for Dad now but I am still leading a rousing three cheers for Panorama, for doing what it is that good journalism is supposed to do: shining a bright light into a very dark corner indeed.
Why is it that the abuse of our senior citizens and other vulnerable adults should be so ignored, so swept under the carpet, that we need to see it, with our own eyes, on the television, on the i-Player, on YouTube, to believe, to be convinced, that it goes on?
Why was everyone so surprised, as the minister himself acknowledged, that so many of our most defenceless citizens still have no legally enshrined protection? Even our closest neighbours, the French have a law against the “abuse of the weakness of elderly people ” (abus de faiblesse sur personnes agées).
It may also be a surprise to you that this Wednesday, 15th June, is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. I’m not usually a big fan of singling out particular days to promote individual causes but in this case, as I hope I’ve shown above, we desperately need to raise awareness. Elder abuse is already widespread and it is rising fast, in tandem with the ageing population, increased rates of dementia and burgeoning prosperity.
If you were shocked by the Panorama broadcast or, more pertinently, if you have a much-loved, frail or otherwise vulnerable family member or friend, why not do your own small bit to help raise awareness? After all, if you do nothing, then nothing gets done.
It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. Perhaps you might mention the day to a friend or a colleague? Maybe you could wear something purple and, if anyone asks you why, explain. It would be absolutely brilliant if you could sign up here or even share an appropriate link or two, via Facebook or Twitter. Just google “elder abuse” - but do beware: many of the results which pop up can be shocking.
As Baroness Thatcher and her companions sat down on a south-facing bench by the cricket nets, to enjoy the last few rays of the afternoon sun, she gave us the tiniest of waves and another slightly expectant, utterly radiant smile. She reminded me for all the world of my own Nana Jackson, who wasn’t entirely sure who I was, on the last few occasions that I saw her. Yet both these little old ladies somehow knew that I was friend and not foe; they knew that they had nothing whatsoever to fear. If only it were so for every single one of our senior citizens, all of whom deserve our respect and our protection.
