There’s No Need To Lock Older People Into Nursing Homes ‘For Their Own Safety’

‘Older people in nursing homes or aged care facilities are often locked up “for their own safety”. But our review shows there’s little justification in most cases for this unfair and unreasonable practice.
In most cases, the chance of older people harming themselves is minimal, so there is no justification for denying them the right to move freely. What can families, facility managers and governments do to give older people back that right?
We rationalise locking nursing home doors by arguing that residents are old and frail, don’t know what they are doing, and will otherwise get lost and harm themselves. So, walking out of a nursing home unaccompanied and without telling caregivers is seen as a high-risk activity to be prevented at all costs.’
Read more: There’s No Need To Lock Older People Into Nursing Homes ‘For Their Own Safety’