Elderly people are suffering from abuse, neglect and malnutrition in hospitals and care homes, according to a report by peers and MPs.

The report, published today by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, calls for changes in the law to safeguard the care of older people, and for a “complete change of culture” in health and care services.

More than a fifth of care homes have been found to be failing basic standards for privacy and dignity, with the most vulnerable residents struggling to eat without proper help, being subjected to verbal and physical abuse or being left to lie in their urine or excrement.

Two thirds of NHS hospital beds are occupied by the over65s, while the number of older people in the population is growing such that, by 2050, there will be twice as many Britons aged over 80 as there are today. Although the committee was told that some patients received excellent care, it said “there are serious concerns about poor treatment, neglect, abuse, discrimination and ill-considered discharge”.

It also found evidence of “historic and embedded ageism” within healthcare services, causing a failure to “respect and protect the human rights of older people”.

The report includes the example of an 80-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by a fellow resident in a care home in 2004: “It was recorded in a log book but no action taken . . . It was only reported to the resident’s daughter in July 2005. She reported the matter to the police.”

Another woman, who had difficulty feeding herself, “appeared to be slowly starving to death” because visitors who could have helped her were discouraged from staying during meal times. In other cases, bed sores were not treated because staff said “it was not their job”. The charity Age Concern estimates that 500,000 older people are subject to abuse at any one time, mostly in healthcare settings.

The committee’s report adds: “In our view, elder abuse is a serious and severe human rights abuse which is perpetrated on vulnerable older people who often depend on their abusers to provide them with care. Not only is it a betrayal of trust, it would also, in certain circumstances, amount to a criminal offence.”

It also cites problems with malnutrition, dehydration and the abuse of medication as a means of controlling older patients. The Alzheimer’s Society said that up to 40 per cent of patients with dementia were being prescribed powerful sedative drugs, despite the risks to their health.

Other examples of neglect included a lack of hygiene in some hospitals that encouraged potentially deadly infections such as Clostridium difficile.

Some 21 per cent of care homes failed to reach minimum standards for privacy and dignity last year, the Commission for Social Care Inspection told the committee. Problems included the use of mixed-sex wards and, a lack of confidentiality in discussing medical problems. Despite this, the committee was “alarmed” that the Government’s planned new healthcare inspectorate would not be given powers to investigate individual complaints from patients or their families.

It criticised the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice for failing to “provide proper leadership” and guidance on the Act to providers of health and residential care.

Local authorities are increasingly referring elderly patients to homes run by the private and voluntary sector, which are exempt from the Human Rights Act. The committee calls for care standards regulations to be amended so that all care homes are brought under the terms of the Act.

Ivan Lewis, the Minister for Care Services, said: “We recognise this anomaly and will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Justice and all other interested parties to ensure that people cared for by the NHS and councils have the protection of the Act.”

Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, said: “The shocking examples highlighted by this report provide all the evidence this Government needs to justify urgent action.”

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