Preventing elder abuse across the EU Friday, March 19, 2010 - 12:05

NIACE is one of eleven partners in a European project called EUSTaCEA - led by AGE (the European Older Person's Platform) - raising awareness of the EU's duty to prevent and tackle the issue of elder abuse, particularly against older women in need of long-term care and assistance.

The workshop hosted by NIACE - on Friday 19 March 2010 - is one in a series of national workshops organised by each partner organisation and will contribute to the production of:

• a European Charter of Rights and Responsibilities for Older People in need of Long-Term Care; and
• a toolkit to explain and illustrate the Charter articles using examples of good practice gathered from around the EU.

Both charter and toolkit will be used as advocacy tools to support national and local strategies to tackle elder abuse and promote the importance of quality guidelines for care services at EU level. At the end of the project - November 2010 - the materials will be presented to the EU and national policy makers.

Leonora Miles, Programme Director for EUSTaCEA at NIACE, said:

"It's significant that NIACE is involved in a project like EUSTaCEA, which is part of the European Commission programme. Through AGE's extensive networks and membership we have involved citizens' groups directly in our work, helping us to develop a suitable European strategy, which was presented at a seminar in Brussels involving the European Parliament Intergroup on Ageing, the Social Protection Committee and the European Standardisation Agency."

"NIACE's contribution at today's workshop will mainly focus on our experience in developing toolkits that highlight the important role that learning plays in preventing elder financial abuse."

Workshop delegates:

• heard from Gary Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) and Bridget Penhale, University of Sheffield and INPEA Board Member;
• were introduced to the findings of NIACE's current work looking at education as a way of preventing financial abuse; and
• had the chance to review and input to the draft Charter of Rights and Responsibilities and the toolkit.