World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Friday the 16th June 2007 was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

In the UK alone 500 000 older people suffer some form of abuse each year. Research in America suggests that for every 1 case reported another 5 goes unnoticed.

The purpose of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is to draw attention to the abuse and silent suffering faced by this vulnerable segment of the population.

Southern Cross Healthcare decided to support this very worthwhile cause on both a local and corporate level. Our Care Centres used all manner of means to raise funds. Everything from sponsored skydives and abseils to tea dances, car washes and cream teas. The level of commitment to this important cause has been impressive. We will not know for two weeks the final sum that we have raised as an organisation.

However, one particular fund raising event caught the imagination of the staff, customers and suppliers of Southern Cross.

On Tuesday 12th June, John Murphy, Chief Operating Officer for Southern Cross and Board Member was ambushed by a passing posse of Cowboys. A wagon train took him to Moorpark Care Centre, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire.

There John had to perform a number of tasks to escape his Cowboy Captors. This ranged from hunting for his lunch, building his own wigwam and making a set of moccasins. As a finale and a sign of peace with his paleface captors John, the staff and service users at Moorpark joined in an energetic line dance.

Crucially, escape was also dependant on a ransom being paid. The ambush managed to raise a total of £9,600 for Action on Elder Abuse. This money will be matched by Southern Cross Healthcare.

John Murphy, Chief Operating Officer said “Once I got over the initial shock, I got into the swing of things. Although this was a light-hearted event it highlighted a very serious issue – one which all of us in the caring profession need to take heed of. I’d like to thank our staff, suppliers and our partners for the contribution they made to our fund raising efforts. Not least for raising the ransom, I am not sure what the posse had planned if they hadn’t. ”

Notes to Editors

Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC www.schealthcare.co.uk

Southern Cross is the largest UK provider of care home services for the elderly and a major provider of specialist services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities. The Company's care homes for the elderly operate under two distinct brands: Southern Cross Healthcare and Ashbourne Senior Living. Both brands provide a range of social and personal care services and nursing care services for elderly people with physical frailties and differing forms of dementia. The Company's specialist services operate under the Active Care Partnerships brand and provide long-term care services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities and for younger people with complex forms of challenging behaviour.

Southern Cross is focused on providing high quality care in well invested facilities, seeking to be the home of choice in each local community in which it operates. The Company provides care services for most of the local authorities in the UK which, together with the NHS, represent over circa 70% of the Company's revenues. Its care home portfolio is largely purpose-built with a high percentage of single occupancy rooms and rooms with ensuite bathrooms.

Southern Cross has 667 care centres, 33,800 beds and 41,000 staff.