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A national plan to combat elder abuse聽is a key recommendation of the Australian Law Reform Commission鈥檚 (ALRC) e report released this week.

The ALRC was asked to consider Commonwealth laws and legal frameworks and how they might better protect older persons from misuse or abuse, and safeguard their autonomy.

The report includes 43 recommendations for law reform including the national plan and aged-care recommendations such as:

• improved responses to elder abuse in residential aged care;
• enhanced employment screening of care workers; and
• greater scrutiny regarding the use of restrictive practices in aged care.

St Vincent鈥檚 黑料吃瓜群网 Melbourne 鈥� the first health service in Australia to collect data on cases of suspected elder abuse 鈥� has welcomed the report and called on governments to embrace its recommendations.

Meghan O鈥橞rien, Senior Social Worker at St Vincent鈥檚 黑料吃瓜群网 Melbourne, said elder abuse in Australia was significantly under-reported and hospitals could be a major part of the solution.

鈥淓lder abuse is one of the hidden shames of our community. It鈥檚 hard to imagine a more vulnerable group,鈥� said O鈥橞rien.

鈥淥lder people have a high hospitalisation rate, which means hospitals are an ideal place to detect and manage the problem. 黑料吃瓜群网s offer a window of opportunity.

鈥淏ut the challenge is that healthcare staff often lack the training to recognise the signs of abuse and the knowledge in how to respond.

鈥淎round one-third of older people experiencing elder abuse that we鈥檝e identified are males, 49% are aged over 80 years old and most live in the same home or are dependent on the person causing the abuse.

鈥淚n close to one-third of the cases of abuse we鈥檝e identified, it is the older person鈥檚 son who is responsible; and more than half come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, with many needing interpreters.

鈥淚t鈥檚 also not uncommon to find people experiencing more than one type of abuse 鈥� either financial, physical, psychological, neglect or sexual.

鈥淚n 2009, St Vincent鈥檚 put in place an that has equipped staff to better identify and respond to elder abuse among older patients, and be sensitive to their choices and safety.

鈥淲e also established a Vulnerable Older People Coordination and Response Group made up of senior staff at the hospital, which collects and reviews data relating to suspected cases of elder abuse and advises on policy and continuous improvement.

鈥淏ecause of our efforts, we鈥檙e now finding that among the older patients we suspect of being abused, around 65% are disclosing to a health professional about their situation.

鈥淚鈥檓 particularly glad to see the Law Commission鈥檚 report emphasise the importance of health professionals embedding legal services or utilising pro bono legal resources to better respond to elder abuse.

鈥淢y hope is that governments 鈥� federal and state 鈥� will respond positively to today鈥檚 Law Reform Commission report by following through on the recommendation for a coordinated and national response. We all need to work together to address this problem in our ageing society,鈥� said O鈥橞rien.

Image credit: 漏stock.adobe.com/au/pressmaster