Hundreds of thousands of elderly people are being abused in their own homes or in privately run residential homes, according to a study published today.

Although the report indicated the rates of serious physical abuse and injury are relatively low, there is widespread evidence of bullying, neglect and low-level abuse at the hands of care workers.

The report on abuse was conducted by researchers from the King’s Institute of Gerontology in London who have spent two years collecting data on abuse in care homes. It was funded by Comic Relief and supported by the Department of Health.

The study claims that the elderly suffer from psychological, physical and sexual abuse, often at the hands of their own relatives.

Adults are not offered the same protection from abuse under the law as children. Campaigners say the ageing population and growing numbers of elderly who need to be looked after mean that has to change.

The report will also focus on the calibre and lack of qualifications of many care workers. It comes a week after police exhumed the bodies of three elderly care home residents from around Glastonbury in Somerset. The exhumations are part of a widening police inquiry into at least seven suspicious deaths at the Parkfields residential care home.

Elderly people who suffer dementia or have had a stroke are thought to be particularly vulnerable as they often lose the power to communicate.

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