Source: The Sunday Telegraph [Editorial]

SOCIETIES should be judged by how they look after the old, the young and the sick.

In Australia, the elderly have been out of sight, out of mind for too long.

We live in an ageing country. The number of people 70 and over is set to double in the next 20 years, posing great challenges for governments and individuals.

The issue of elderly care is one all of us will have to confront sooner or later.

The days when close-knit families looked after their ageing parents and grandparents in the family home are sadly becoming a dim memory.

Many people will end up in a nursing home or an aged-care facility, either through choice or the lack of an alternative. It's vital that these vulnerable members of our community are not forgotten.

Nursing homes should be held to the highest standards of care. It's disturbing to discover that many fail the test.

Almost 4000 breaches have been reported in the past six months, according to a federal government agency.

They range from serious sexual assaults to breaches of personal dignity in care.

This report was previously kept under wraps, presumably to protect the reputation of the industry and to avoid raising the alarm of relatives.

This is understandable, but nevertheless completely wrong.

Conditions in nursing homes should be a matter of open debate, not pushed under the carpet as a taboo subject. There needs to be more scrutiny, not less, to ensure the pressure is on to maintain standards.

We stand condemned as a society if we allow the elderly to be shuffled off to a home and forgotten after the doors close.

Copyright News Limited – used with permission