Jackson critical of delayed response to senior abuse report

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Shadow Seniors Minister Louise Jackson criticised the Government for slow responses to reports of senior abuse.

Addressing the House of Assembly on Friday, Mrs Jackson said that she herself had reported a senior suffering from dementia who was being left locked in his condominium by his wife.

“I notified the National Office of Seniors and I reported this expecting something to be done fairly quickly,” Mrs Jackson said.

“Two weeks later nothing had been done. I hadn’t been called. The man was being locked into this condominium and no one had come out.”

Eventually, she said two social workers did come to the condominium searching for the victim and spoke to Mrs Jackson, but by that point the victim and his wife had left the country.

“There was no resolution. At all,” she said. “So when I make the comment that the Office for Seniors and Physically Challenged are not cutting it, I’m putting it lightly.”

Families Minister Glenn Blakeney confirmed that Mrs Jackson had contacted the office on June 13 with a complaint, and said that on June 14 and 15 staff at the Office were undergoing a training session. The following Monday was a national holiday.

Following that, he said staff began to investigate the matter, speaking to the Department of Immigration about the couple in question’s status. He said attempts were made to contact Mrs Jackson, but they were unsuccessful.

Mr Blakeney said that when social workers arrived at the property and spoke to Mrs Jackson, she complained about the Director and Department, and the social workers informed their superiors.

“It was thought the matter would be raised in the House and so we prepared ourselves to respond,” Mr Blakeney said.

He then criticised Mrs Jackson’s choice to raise the issue during Motion to Adjourn when Health Minister Zane DeSilva was not present rather than approaching him about the matter earlier in the session.

He further criticised her for detailing in the House where the victim lived, saying the victim could be identified by her description.

The Minister also defended his party’s work for seniors, saying claims that the PLP don’t care about seniors is false.

Responding briefly to the matter, OBA’s Grant Gibbons said that he believed the point Mrs Jackson was trying to make was that a two-week wait for a response to a possible case of abuse is “simply too long.”

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