SWINDON MP Julia Drown says she has evidence of serial abuse against housebound pensioners by their so-called carers.

A series of disturbing cases brought to her notice in Swindon have left her shocked.

Ms Drown, the Labour MP for South Swindon, has spoken about her knowledge of violence against vulnerable pensioners, following an investigation by a parliamentary select committee.

The committee heard that thousands of elderly people were routinely ill-treated by the very people who were being paid with public money to look after and protect them.

Under-funded social services departments as in Swindon, with one of the worst financial records in the land were blamed by MPs for the national scandal.

Ms Drown said what she had uncovered in Swindon around one case of abuse a week was disgusting.

She did not want to go into graphic details because she has promised to protect the identities of the abused, who have been left traumatised and terrified they will be punished if their carers suspected a complaint had been made.

However, most of the cases reported to Ms Drown came from hospital or care home staff blowing the whistle on their colleagues.

The majority were not "headline-grabbing" but focused on "poor care and forced indignity".

All these allegations were passed to the National Care Standards Commissioner by Ms Drown personally.

Ms Drown is now continuing her campaign in Swindon to save other pensioners from suffering.

All her evidence has been forwarded to the appropriate authorities for action.

Although the crisis, both locally and nationally, is hard to quantify, the steady trickle of incidents that have been filtered through the MP have made her fear that this is "only the tip of the iceberg".

Most of the cases in her dossier come in the category of serious neglect and robbing the helpless of their human dignity, but there have been a "handful" of instances of physical abuse.

"The whole object of this Parliamentary inquiry is to identify the extent of the scandal," she said.

However, Coun Jemima Milton, (Con, Wroughton and Chiseldon), who is responsible for Swindon's social services, said that she had not heard of one case of abuse by a carer in the town.

After checking with officers, she said: "Nobody knows anything about that kind of thing here."

Coun Milton defended the record of Swindon social services, saying: "We have a vulnerable people's committee and a multi-agency committee which co-ordinates and trains carers. But the real issue is trying to get staff. Getting police clearance for staff takes 50 days and that's a problem in itself.

"We also run a care hotline which is there for anyone to use to make a report or call for help." That number is 01793 466644.

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Michael Litchfield