"Published by Age Concern New Zealand to mark International Day for Llder Persons 1 October 2007" Cover.

This report presents an analysis of data collected by Age Concern Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention (EANP) services relating to 944 established cases of elder abuse or neglect between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2006. It also identifies and discusses key issues facing the New Zealand elder abuse and neglect prevention sector as part of the development of a national strategy to eliminate elder abuse and neglect. These issues include: the need for valid and comparable data gathered from across government and NGO sectors for future research and service development; the need to ensure access to EANP services for all older people regardless of location; the need to increase EANP service capacity, particularly its cultural responsiveness and geographical spread; the need for increased health sector resources in support of the recently published Family Violence Intervention Guidelines - Elder abuse and Neglect; recognition of self neglect as a problem and the resourcing of appropriate responses to it; and the need for action to address ageist attitudes and behaviours leading to elder abuse and neglect. The limitations of the data are discussed.

nz