A local organisation has seen a “concerning” surge in referrals of elder abuse and an increase in the complexity of cases.
“Annually we normally deal with between 100 and 120 [elder abuse] cases, and I think we’ll have more this year judging by what we’ve seen so far,” Age Concern Nelson Tasman (ACNT) manager Caroline Budge says, following increases in referrals to the elder abuse services offered by the charity.
“Referrals are much higher than that, and I think we’ve had as many as 75 referrals in the last few months.”
She says the referrals were “concerning” due to their growing complexity.
“We’re seeing things like methamphetamine use and how it impacts older adults, they may have children or grandchildren who are meth users and they’re taking advantage of older adults,” she says. “We are also seeing more older adults who are meth users themselves. The lack of available housing for older adults impacts on families and younger people can’t find affordable houses, so they might move in with grandparents, which puts pressure on everybody.
“The cost-of-living crisis means people can’t afford to see their GP, therefore they’re not getting their medicines prescribed… so there’s a whole lot of factors out there that are impacting older adults and their ability to navigate life.”
Caroline says, while ACNT has had recent funding shortfalls, managing the elder abuse referrals was not a present issue.
“It’s really important that we are there because older people should not be feeling let down by society in their later stages of life.”
Caroline says delivering the message that “elder abuse is not ok” to the community was vital to achieving fewer cases, and while ACNT is a non-emergency service, elders should be empowered to make contact if they need help.
“Staff are happy to have a conversation with somebody, it may not be elder abuse, but quite often they just want to sound out the situation,” she says. “The outcome will be that they are safe from whatever it is that has caused the abuse… we tend to work very much collaboratively with other agencies that can help in this space.”
