The Paul Tys Churchill Fellowship to access world's best practice in preventing and responding to Elder Abuse in aged care and the community

Elder abuse is described by the World Health Organisation as ‘a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person’. Elder abuse can take many forms, including physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. We know from overseas studies that abuse of older people affects between 2% and 12% of older people, and it affects both women and men. It has been estimated that as many as 185,000 older people in Australia experience some form of abuse or neglect each year. Abuse of older people can happen both inside and outside the home. It can also involve those who we love and trust. While related in nature, it is different to domestic violence, and therefore requires its own response. //Geoff was motivated to undertake a Churchill Fellowship in part by a frustration that as a community, our response to elder abuse is where the response to domestic violence was twenty years ago. As a society we have little, or at best a poor understanding of elder abuse, often viewing it as a family issue rather than a criminal matter. We have also failed to count the cost of elder abuse, the emotional, social, and financial – to the older person and the community more broadly. Geoff’s Fellowship provided the opportunity to examine world best practice in preventing and responding to elder abuse in both aged care and the community and to bring that information back to Australia to close the gap in our learning, understanding and response to elder abuse.// His Fellowship journey took him to New York, Vancouver, Anchorage, Edinburgh, London, and Wellington, visiting thirty-three organisations across a six-week period. While expecting to find other jurisdictions comfortable with their response to elder abuse, many of the people he met expressed similar frustrations regarding poor engagement of government in progressing the response, and the lack of understanding about elder abuse by the broader community. //Geoff’s report includes recommendations to build on and improve our response to the abuse of older Australians across the domains of enhancing understanding, improving community awareness and access to information, strengthening our service response, planning for future decision making and strengthening safeguards. Keywords: Aboriginal, abuse, aged, aged care, adult protection, elder abuse, financial abuse, First Nation, Indigenous, older person, prevention