The Department of Ageing and Disability Services received 89 reports of abuse of seniors last year.

The figure was among 165 general referral cases of seniors the department opened in 2023, Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Social Development, Youth and Seniors, told the House of Assembly yesterday.

Some of the cases the staff of the department addressed involved physical and psychological abuse as well as cases of financial exploitation.

Although the department is stretched, given its lack of adequate staffing, Ms Furbert said the agency manages to provide its services.

The department's worker/client ratio is 1 to 25.

With an ageing population, the number of complaints is expected to continue growing, according to a consultancy review, Ms Furbert said.

She said to boost the department’s capacity, social-work job descriptions were upgraded and redated and two new posts were filled. In addition, a policy analyst post was approved by the Government and recruitment is continuing.

Further policy support will address targeted policy work within the department, Ms Furbert said.

“I think is important of us all to understand the challenging work of adult protection,” she told the House. She said that “the complexity of cases is rising but despite this, the team has remained committed to clients”.

Opposition MP Susan Jackson said given the department’s human-resource capacity, and Bermuda’s growing ageing population, “at some point it can become overwhelming” as the agency appears to be “stretched thin”.

Ms Furbert said that the Government is addressing the issues the department faces, including staffing.

She said that the Government has been “very progressive” in dealing with the “potential caseloads”.

In addition, she said, the Government is looking to support and accommodate the increase in staff-to-client ratio at the department.

A sum of $1,332,000 was set aside in the Budget for the department. Ms Furbert said that the figure represents a 36 per cent increase over the previous year. She attributed the increase to consultancy funding geared at improving the department’s functions.

As part of its mandate, Ms Furbert said, the department has increased its educational initiatives. It is reaching more seniors and vulnerable persons while providing them with more knowledge, including on the issue of abuse, she said.

She noted that the primary focus of the department is adult protection. Case management, Ms Furbert said, remains the “largest staffing component” and primary programme of the department.

Despite the complex cases, she said, the department’s case management team “has done well serving our vulnerable persons, particularly when the individual lacks the capacity to make decisions for themselves”.

In addition to its case management programme, she said, the agency also develops and implements public education and awareness initiatives “to enhance the public’s understanding of the service’s actions and issues pertaining to seniors and persons with disabilities”.

Ms Furbert told the House that work is progressing on the National Seniors Strategy. She said earlier this year that seniors took part in consultations and provided important contributions to better improve the effectiveness of the strategy.

Ms Jackson, who commended the efforts of the minister and the various departments of the ministry, asked whether data collection within the government agency is being strengthened, given its wide social mandate.

Ms Furbert said digitalisation of systems at the ministry is moving apace to improve its services to the public. “Digitalisation is being done for our clients to access forms online,” she said as an example.

She said that the ministry continues to work with stakeholders to ensure its work is effective.

“We expect more collaborative work to be done in cohesion,” Ms Furbert added.