AM Support For Age Concern

CARL SARGEANT AM SUPPORTS ADVOCACY EVENT
Carl Sargeant, AM for Alyn and Deeside, has attended a reception at the National Assembly for Wales to celebrate the launch of Age Concern Cymru’s Elder Abuse Project’s ‘Advocacy Counts 2’ report.‘Advocacy Counts 2’ has been produced to review advocacy provision for older people in Wales. Age Concern Cymru’s initial report was launched in October 2007 and was recognised as an important baseline measure for advocacy in Wales. This new report compares the findings 12 months on. Information on issues ranging from the commissioning of services, funding, training and reporting of elder abuse issues are highlighted in this report.
Carl Sargeant, AM for Alyn and Deeside, who holds regular meetings with Age Concern’s North Wales Project Officer with responsibility for tackling Elder Abuse, said: “The Age Concern Elder Abuse project is funded by Comic Relief, and has been designed in response to the need to develop advocacy work in Wales as a key means of tackling the abuse of older people and to the need to develop policy and practice in this area. The project represents a major opportunity to make a key and pioneering contribution to work in the field of tackling elder abuse.
“Elder abuse can take many forms – it can be financial or material, emotional or psychological. It can be physical or sexual, or can take the form of neglect. We need to increase the general public awareness of elder abuse, and ensure that people develop a complete zero tolerance for it. It is also important that we increase awareness and understanding of the value of advocacy in the protection and empowerment of older people.”