Calls for an Aged Care Commissioner to investigate financial elder abuse

The New Zealand Aged Care Association and Grey Power are calling for the establishment of an Aged Care Commssioner, with the powers to receive complaints on financial abuse, investigate them and if required take legal action through the courts.

The two organisations have released a discussion document to highlight the issue of financial abuse and create debate on options to address it.

Roy Reid, President of Grey Power, said  "The number of cases where elderly people have been financially abused by the very person who is meant to be acting in their best interests is unfortunate. There is no one agency responsible for looking into these cases or with the power to resolve them." He said said the abuse commonly occurs when an older person cedes enduring power of attorney to a family member.

Age Concern New Zealand said they welcomed any steps to further address the issue of elder abuse and neglect. However the organisation said the most effective way to do that would be to strengthen the current elder abuse and neglect prevention (EANP) services. Louise Collins, national advisor on elder abuse and neglect, said referrals were growing. However she said most cases do not need to go to court and many older people do not want to take legal action against a family member.

More information on elder abuse:

Elder abuse and neglect: a selected bibliography, New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse, August 2012

Financial abuse of older people in New Zealand: a working paper, Age Concern and Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, November 2011

Consultation on enduring powers of attorney, New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse, May 2013

Media:

Elder abuse and neglect prevention services 'most effective', Voxy, 21.10.2013

Neglected elderly Australian woman suffers brutal fate, New Zealand Herald, 21.10.2013

Call to stop elderly being ripped off, Stuff, 21.10.2013

Call for commissioner to probe abuse of elderly, Radio New Zealand, 21.10.2013

Age groups want watchdog on abuse, New Zealand Herald, 21.10.2013

'Aged Care Commissioner needed' to protect the elderly, Voxy, 21.10.2013

Grey Power calling for independent Commissioner, Radio New Zealand, 21.10.2013

Image: Age Watch by James Barwell. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) .