Recently we reported on the increase in calls to NSW’s Ageing and Disability Commissioner post-COVID. Now the Commission has released its first-ever annual report – and the findings are interesting.
Over two-thirds (69.6%) of the 1,777 reports to the ADC about older people involved older women with the majority aged between 80 and 84.
One-third (32.5%) of reports were made by adult children, followed by one quarter (23.5%) by paid workers and 14% by the older person themselves.
Family members were also most likely to be the target of allegations, with 56.7% of allegations around the person’s adult children and 11% about a spouse or partner.
Psychological abuse was the main type of abuse reported (35.8%), including verbal abuse; and preventing or restricting access to family/others, with financial abuse (30.6%) – mainly financial exploitation; theft; and misuse of Power of Attorney/Enduring POA – and neglect (18.4%), including failure to meet the person’s support needs; medical neglect; and failure to provide adequate clothing and/or food rounding out the top three.
41 matters were also referred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) while 128 issues were passed on to NSW Police.
This data will also soon be more widely available, according to the Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald AM, with a data dashboard to be uploaded to their website in 2020-21 to make quarterly data publicly available.
The report also reveals that the Commission now has 15 full- and part-time staff as of 30 June 2020 in addition to the Commissioner and the Director of Operations.
You can download the report here.
