Immediate action needs to be taken to safeguard the island’s seniors according to advocate Carol Everson.

Claudette Fleming, of Age Concern, recently said that some care homes appear to be unwilling to adopt tighter standards, adding that the charity and other groups have assembled a working group aimed at inducing facilities to sign up for certification followed by accreditation by 2018.

Speaking in response to the comments, Ms Everson said that Dr Fleming raised valid concerns that must be addressed but said action needs to be taken sooner rather than later.

“The needs of our elderly in nursing homes have to be raised now,” she said. “There needs to be safeguards for care now. Not three years down the line, not as the result of two years of committee, but now.

“It is important that this situation is dealt with expeditiously because the basic standards of nursing home care do not support the needs of the community. The very immediate needs of the community.”

While Ageing and Disability Services pledged in September 2015 to get tougher on facilities that fail to deliver adequate care, both Dr Fleming and Ms Everson agreed that the body lacks the necessary enforcement powers.

Ms Everson said: “In effect, what is happening is that when there are concerns in nursing homes, nothing is done to raise the standards apart from inspections that only meet superficial needs.

“Standards have to be maintained with legislation that is appropriate. The legislation as it stands does not support a good process for investigations to take place. If a senior is in jeopardy in their own home or in a nursing home, there is an immediate need to safeguard them.

“As ADS have no legislative power, ideally there should be an independent party, and independent office to whom complaints could be made and who can assess nursing homes.”

She also added that the Bermuda Police Service need to be “extremely proactive” in investigating cases of elder abuse to ensure the safety of the island’s seniors.

Ms Everson however disagreed with a comment by Dr Fleming that there had to be a “happy medium” struck between the “business side” of care homes with nursing care.

“If the ‘business side’ has to be balanced against good care, then something is wrong,” Ms Everson said. “Standards of care are paramount. Bermuda desperately needs more nursing homes, and homes that can provide the highest possible standard of care.”

Ms Everson also noted the high levels of dementia on the island, saying that it has been estimated that 2,000 people suffer from the condition but only a few facilities are capable of properly caring for them.

“Dementia is not a mental illness, but it is a dreadful disease because it basically destroys brain cells until a person cannot function as they have in normal life,” she said. “In certain cases the person requires 24-hour care.

“With 2,000 people estimated suffering from dementia and no nursing home places available for them, then what must happen is the creation of specialist dementia units.

“There are excellent accreditation programmes available now. My concern is that to wait until 2018 to implement something that is purely voluntary does not help seniors now and may not help seniors in 2018 if whatever’s decided on cannot be properly implemented.”