‘Profit Motive’ To Blame For Elderly Care Failings – Union

Britain’s largest trade union today blamed poor pay for the neglect and abuse of elderly people in care homes. Jack Dromey, the deputy general secretary of Unite, said the profit motive was at the heart of the ill treatment of elderly people.

The union seized on a damning parliamentary committee report into elderly care, published today, which found evidence of disturbing levels of neglect and abuse. Mr Dromey said the persistent pressure to privatise care was driving down pay, terms and conditions and leading to increased staff turnover and chronic social care staff shortages.

He called on the government to look at the recruitment, pay and conditions of carers as part of the solution to patient neglect. “Any review of how we look after our elderly and vulnerable people in hospitals, care homes and their own homes must mean a culture change to ensure care workers are properly respected and rewarded,” said Mr Dromey.

“It is not acceptable for our elderly to suffer abuses which leave them in horrific conditions and in fear of their lives. MPs and ministers are right to highlight those but they must recognise the stressful working conditions for the care staff and address those with equally high profile comments.”

Published by the joint committee on human rights, the report highlighted disturbing levels of neglect, over-medication and hasty hospital discharges which, it claimed, caused the elderly unnecessary suffering.

The committee called for a strengthening of the law to protect the human rights of older people and called for “an entire culture change” to ensure patients and staff who worked with them were aware of these rights.

The committee criticised the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice for failing to “provide proper leadership” and guidance about the Human Rights Act. The group also found evidence of “historic and embedded ageism” within healthcare services, causing a failure to “respect and protect the human rights of older people”.

The report’s findings coincide with the extension of the government’s ‘dignity in care’ campaign to people with mental health problems, nine months after it was launched to ensure older people were treated with respect by health and care professionals.

Mr Dromey said: “The human rights of the elderly are important but the employment rights of those who look after them are being compromised. It is right for the government to herald ‘Dignity Champions’ but care workers need dignity, too.”

Stephen O’Brien, the Conservative health spokesman, called for an end to the “shameful treatment” of elderly people. Mr O’Brien said: “This goes to show how Labour’s so-called ‘dignity challenge’ is failing. This government must stop neglecting the social care sector and some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”

Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at the Help the Aged charity, said: “Far from tending to the needs of the most vulnerable, too often these services fail to even respect older people’s most basic human rights. Surely the shocking examples highlighted by this report provide all the evidence this government needs to justify urgent action to remedy the situation.”