Treatment of elderly 'shameful'

An investigation by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which includes Aldridge-Brownhills MP Richard Shepherd, found shocking evidence of care home residents being left in their own urine or excrement, suffering malnutrition and being abused by staff.

Details of the findings are spelled out in a damning report by an influential group of peers and MPs which described the ill-treatment and degradation of the vulnerable as a "serious and severe human rights abuse".

"Not only is it a betrayal of trust, it would also, in certain circumstances, amount to a criminal offence," said the report, which follows a study in which 21 per cent of care homes failed to meet basic standards.

The group also found evidence of "historic and embedded ageism" causing a failure to "respect and protect the human rights of older people".

They called for a "complete change of culture" in health and care services and said new legal duties should be placed on care homes to restore the required high standards of healthcare, privacy and dignity.

The Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice were criticised for failing to give proper leadership and guidance to health and residential care providers on the Human Rights Act.

They said existing legislation did not go far enough to protect and promote the rights of older people. Tory MP Mr Shepherd said: "There is a genuine concern about the care of elderly people in private homes.

"It is public money that funds the residents and therefore there should be high standards of care.

"The fear is that this is a neglected sector, although every member of Parliament will know of the anxieties of families and relatives for those in care in such homes."

Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at Help The Aged, welcomed the report which she said had "lifted the lid on the shameful treatment of our older citizens".