The development of a national elder abuse services in
Ireland can provide insights into elder abuse referrals in a
European country. Of 4 m inhabitants, 11% are aged over
65, and the number over 65s is set to treble by 2041. Elder
abuse policy has been driven by key publications, including
the first reports of elder abuse in the Irish medical and
social literature in 1990 [2, 3] and a report from the government
advisory group on ageing in 1998 [4] which recommended
a government working group on elder abuse.
This was established in 1999, and produced a policy document,
Protecting our Future [5], in 2002. This recommended
a framework and programme of work in
relation to elder abuse in Ireland, and was adopted immediately
by the Department of Health and Children (responsible
for health and social services in Ireland), but not at
wider governmental level. A unique feature of the recommendations
from an international perspective was that
these guidelines and policies were trialled in the field,
re-evaluated, and then changed accordingly.