Action on Wokingham elder abuse
Wokingham District Council is backing a national Help the Aged campaign to cut out abuse of older people.
The Enough is Enough campaign was launched this week to call for better training in recognition and prevention of abuse for professionals working with older people and to raise awareness of the seriousness of the problem.
Wokingham District Council recognises that older people are sometimes harmed or mistreated or neglected by people they should be able to trust. Abuse may be physical or sexual, but can also take the form of psychological abuse such as threat of harm and humiliation, which are difficult to prove. Abuse may also include the neglect of a person’s medical or care needs, the withholding of food and even theft of a person’s money and possessions. Wokingham District Council investigates about 100 concerns about abuse each year.
All Wokingham District Council staff who work with older people and other vulnerable adults have training to prevent, recognise and report abuse. The council also works with partners such as the police and health authorities to provide training to all those who work with vulnerable people.
And Wokingham District Council has produced a leaflet, What you need to know about Adult Abuse, which is available in council offices, libraries and GP surgeries and information is available on the council’s website at www.wokingham.gov.uk.
The council works with vulnerable people and their carers to ensure that people are as safe as possible in their own homes and in residential and nursing homes.
Wokingham council also works with health and care provider partners to ensure that they have training and support to recognise and report abuse when it happens. Working alongside the police, the Commission for Social Care
Inspection and the health service, the district council ensure that all allegations of abuse are investigated and that vulnerable people are protected.
Cllr Bob Wyatt, Wokingham council’s champion for older people, said: “Older people are some of the most vulnerable people in the community and we must do all we can to protect them. It is estimated that 500,000 older people are currently being abused in the UK and that is a shocking total that needs to be reduced. It is only right that Wokingham District Council should support Help the Aged’s Enough is Enough campaign.”
The Enough is Enough campaign was launched this week to call for better training in recognition and prevention of abuse for professionals working with older people and to raise awareness of the seriousness of the problem.
Wokingham District Council recognises that older people are sometimes harmed or mistreated or neglected by people they should be able to trust. Abuse may be physical or sexual, but can also take the form of psychological abuse such as threat of harm and humiliation, which are difficult to prove. Abuse may also include the neglect of a person’s medical or care needs, the withholding of food and even theft of a person’s money and possessions. Wokingham District Council investigates about 100 concerns about abuse each year.
All Wokingham District Council staff who work with older people and other vulnerable adults have training to prevent, recognise and report abuse. The council also works with partners such as the police and health authorities to provide training to all those who work with vulnerable people.
And Wokingham District Council has produced a leaflet, What you need to know about Adult Abuse, which is available in council offices, libraries and GP surgeries and information is available on the council’s website at www.wokingham.gov.uk.
The council works with vulnerable people and their carers to ensure that people are as safe as possible in their own homes and in residential and nursing homes.
Wokingham council also works with health and care provider partners to ensure that they have training and support to recognise and report abuse when it happens. Working alongside the police, the Commission for Social Care
Inspection and the health service, the district council ensure that all allegations of abuse are investigated and that vulnerable people are protected.
Cllr Bob Wyatt, Wokingham council’s champion for older people, said: “Older people are some of the most vulnerable people in the community and we must do all we can to protect them. It is estimated that 500,000 older people are currently being abused in the UK and that is a shocking total that needs to be reduced. It is only right that Wokingham District Council should support Help the Aged’s Enough is Enough campaign.”
Wokingham District Council
<< Home