Panorama

Andrew Wilson was a pipe-smoking engineer who spent the evenings of his youth in the dance halls of Glasgow. Now 78 and still a bachelor, Mr Wilson is hard of hearing and unable to walk.

Mr Wilson allowed Panorama to install hidden cameras in his small flat to reveal the quality - and failings - of his home care provider. He was put to bed at 1830 on Christmas day and left there for 14 hours.

Ivy and Dick Bellamy have been a couple for 65 years. In their early retirement, the couple travelled Britain and treated themselves to a golden anniversary trip aboard the Concorde.

Now, 92, the years have taken a toll on Ivy Bellamy, who has dementia and has not spoken for a year. Last year, she suffered severe bruising in an accident with a hoist being used by her carer.

As a girl, Janet Finn was a Girl Guide who loved the outdoors. She raised two sons with her late husband Michael and the family enjoyed cycling holidays in Cornwall. Now, at 89, she suffers from dementia.

In June 2008, David Finn found his mother, who lives in Hertfordshire, smeared in her own faeces after her name dropped off the computer list of her care provider and she went 24 hours without any help.

Doubly incontinent, Janet Finn is supposed to be visited three times a day. "You put your trust in people to, to look after them and they�ve failed miserably," her son, David, said.

Kusum Rawal and her husband raised their eight children in Harrow, north London, after emigrating from Kenya in the 1960s. Now 82, she has suffered from two debilitating strokes.

Mrs Rawal's daughter, Raksha, said she firmly believes that it is her advocacy on her mother's behalf that has helped keep her safe and alive. Photography by David Gillanders