It is a sad fact of life when we read or hear about acts of abuse
towards the elderly sick or disabled that reside in Care Homes and are totally
reliant upon those who are entrusted & employed to provide us with care
& support. Abuse comes in all forms and we often don’t realise when we are
being abused ourselves, wilfully knowingly and wantonly. It is particularly problematic for those of us
who are incapable of venturing outside, are without family or friends or any
visitors. We solely depend upon the very
same people which may be our abusers and take charge of everything on our
behalf. Furthermore, when failures of
duty, abuse, neglect and victimisation extends though all departments where is
a listening voice?
I consider myself fortunate. My body is disabled but my mind is not,
and it is only my mind that has allowed me to be aware of the abhorrent codes
of practice that I have to endure daily.
I live in a Sheltered Accommodation facility with 7 other elderly sick
and vulnerable residents. Services are paid for and yet not received. Services
are added which do not exist. Any complaints or logical suggestions are simply
ignored or addressed by the very people that abuse & neglect you. Management, staff and all personnel, have no qualified
experience or training to care for or to support the elderly sick and disabled.
Health & Safety regulations are breached as so too are Fire Safety standards…
… Risk assessments have never been made for any resident on a regular basis,
and in some instances not for 10+ years… Residents with mental health issues
are ‘forced’ to sign documents, agreements and who knows? Partially blind residents too. It has not
been unusual for me having to wait up to six weeks for my bedding or towels to
be laundered or serviced, or having no food or drinks at all prepared for me
for 5 days, and I kid you not. Oh, and my Housing Provider receives £221.00 per
week for the privilege.
Add the above to the prevention of using a telephone and/or having
access to the internet, and what you have is a recipe for systematic abuse,
neglect and discrimination without it becoming apparent to the outside world.
False information is supplied on your behalf by the abusers. They control your
applications, your access to anything and in situations such as my own, they
invent, cover-up and instil a false sense of security to professional parties
& bodies out of house.
Trust me. It has taken me 2 years of pain and suffering to get where I am today in terms of
having just ‘some’ of my complaints being taken seriously, albeit with the
limited resources at my disposal. Being passed on from one organisation to
another has been a huge stumbling block, and/or finding a solicitor that is willing
or able to assist. Local Authority intervention; my local MP; Commissions, Agencies
and/or advice centres have all crumbled along the way to reduce me back to
square one again, time and time again. However…
… Through perseverance and the knowing that I am right, I have now finally
reached the stage where legal action is imminent and has been deemed as having
a 88% success in terms of having those that have wilfully abused, neglected and
discriminated against me for 2+ years, brought to justice in a court of law by
solicitors. The ‘abusers’ have tried everything at there disposal to prevent
this from happening and have made my life as difficult as is possible in due
course in the hope that I would either give-up, break or forget it. They have broken my faith, broken my spirit
and affected my health & wellbeing, but not my resolve and for that I
remain very grateful. Would I do it again? You bet I would, but I should have
never had to in the first place.
