The number of cases of abuse against elderly people in residential homes and hospitals has been described as "shocking" by a charity.

Action on Elder Abuse revealed a quarter of all calls to its helpline are about older people complaining of being mistreated, exploited or neglected in homes and hospitals.

The charity is calling on the government to set a deadline of 2005 for all workers with elderly people to be properly qualified, and wants the Treasury to foot the bill.

Care workers were accused of abuse in 50% of cases where a paid worker was involved, nurses in a further 15%, the charity said.

It wants all staff to be registered on the General Social Care Council in England or the Care Council in Wales so workers can be struck off if they fall below acceptable standards.

The charity says just two-in-ten workers have a recognised qualification which enables them to be state registered.

Ginny Jenkins, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said: "It is shocking to discover that a quarter of calls to out helpline are about mistreatment, exploitation and neglect happening in places where we expect that people will be professionally cared for.

"Research shows that where staff have been properly trained for working with older people, and feel motivated and valued, the number of incidents of abuse drops considerably."

Psychological or financial abuse

The majority of the 1,421 calls to the helpline between 19997 and 1999 were about abuse in elderly people's own homes and half of these incidents were blamed on relatives of the elderly person. Often the elderly person's children were accused of psychological or financial abuse.

Though there was a minority of sadists abusing elderly people, the majority of cases in homes and hospitals were a result of staff reacting to stress and losing their temper when something went wrong, Ms Jenkins said.

She said it was vital the government "put its money where its mouth is" to ensure proper training. She estimated the cost at �600 for each of the 800,000 staff working with older people in the UK

"�600 is a very small price to pay to ensure quality of life for vulnerable older people."

In one case, the charity's helpline was called by the deputy manager of a local authority who said she had witnessed systematic abuse of residents over a two year period.

In another case, a care worker phoned to say she believed a female staff member was sexually abusing elderly women in a residential home.

The charity warned that many other cases of abuse are likely to go unreported because of fears of reprisals among the elderly.