This was the situation in 2011 - now with the NHS sorely strapped for cash and limited resources for training staff and monitoring the quality of care, can we ever get back to the way we were? What human rights do vulnerable adults cared for at home enjoy.. Until 2014, none! A change in the law in April 2014 was a step in the right direction.
According
to the report in the Independent's
sister newspaper,
i, an enquiry was launched in 2011 by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission claiming that elderly people in Britain were vulnerable to
abuse and neglect, even in their own homes. They are subject to
cruelty, indifference and wrongdoing by carers whose duty it is to
help with washing, eating and dressing in the patient's own home.
-
People were put to bed in the middle of the afternoon and left in soiled nightwear till morning.
-
People were strip washed, with no regard for their feelings or dignity.
-
Food was left out of reach.
-
Some were regularly robbed of their money
-
A woman was stuck on the toilet and shouted for help, but the carer refused. "Can't do that but I've made you a butty and I am going now."
-
A carer watched a 76-year-old woman suffering from terminal cancer struggling to carry her meal to the microwave. The carer said she couldn't do it "for health and safety reasons."
No
Respect, No Dignity
"The trouble is the good carers are in demand - they are taken and someone else is sent. They don't read the care plans or pay attention - you are frightened to go out of the door because of what you find when you return."
Ann Reid's husband Jim died aged 84 in 2008, and in the last three and a half years of his life, a total of fifty-three carers passed through the couple's home. Ann said that while some were good, others were "absolutely appalling." Ann told of one occasion when Jim was sitting in the conservatory. He called out to the carer that he wanted to go to the toilet. Thinking they were alone, the carer told him to "shut up" because he was reading the paper. Fortunately, on this occasion, this callous response was overhead by a neighbour who reported it.
BBC1 News at Six featured an interview with an elderly lady, Rita, who complained of serious breaches to her human rights. Part of the trouble was that she seldom saw the same care worker every day, and that made her feel insecure. She described the patronising behaviour of some care workers, who would be talking on their mobile phones while "attending" to their patient. Rita kept insisting that she was an individual and a woman and that she didn't want to be patronised. "I am not a piece of meat," she said.
Care in Care Homes
Elderly people in care homes often fare no better. A personal friend told how distressed she was while visiting a friend with Alzheimer's in a local care home. She was shocked to encounter her friend in a communal area, being abused by another patient, also suffering from Alzheimer's. The man was lying across the old lady, his hand fumbling at her breast, and his mouth locked on hers. My friend called out to a two care workers, occupied in the adjoining kitchen.
"Oh, we just leave them alone," one said. "You can't separate them when they're like that." The carers flatly refused to intervene.
Care in Hospitals
In 2011, the Care-Quality Commission exposed lapses in the provision of basic care to the elderly in hospital. After one hundred visits, they declared the results "alarming." Yet because of a legal loophole, organisations that provide care at home are not subject to the Human Rights Act. The CQC are now demanding that this loophole should be addressed.
I have personally seen meals left at elderly patients' bedsides, since the nurses were too busy and there were no relatives available to help with feeding. I have heard the repeated pitiful cries of those needing a bedpan, but again, the nurses were all too busy. Mostly, it's not their fault - they really are overworked and there is only so much one person can do.
Protection from Dehumanising Treatment
Alison Holt, BBC Social Affairs Correspondent said that part of the trouble was that the services were under pressure and underfunded. They provided minimal training. Regular inspection of care homes should be implemented.
Baroness Sally Greengross, Commissioner for the EHRC said it was essential that care services respected people's basic human rights. "This is not about burdensome red tape. It is about protecting people from the kind of dehumanising treatment we have uncovered."
"The trouble is the good carers are in demand - they are taken and someone else is sent. They don't read the care plans or pay attention - you are frightened to go out of the door because of what you find when you return."
Ann Reid's husband Jim died aged 84 in 2008, and in the last three and a half years of his life, a total of fifty-three carers passed through the couple's home. Ann said that while some were good, others were "absolutely appalling." Ann told of one occasion when Jim was sitting in the conservatory. He called out to the carer that he wanted to go to the toilet. Thinking they were alone, the carer told him to "shut up" because he was reading the paper. Fortunately, on this occasion, this callous response was overhead by a neighbour who reported it.
BBC1 News at Six featured an interview with an elderly lady, Rita, who complained of serious breaches to her human rights. Part of the trouble was that she seldom saw the same care worker every day, and that made her feel insecure. She described the patronising behaviour of some care workers, who would be talking on their mobile phones while "attending" to their patient. Rita kept insisting that she was an individual and a woman and that she didn't want to be patronised. "I am not a piece of meat," she said.
Care in Care Homes
Elderly people in care homes often fare no better. A personal friend told how distressed she was while visiting a friend with Alzheimer's in a local care home. She was shocked to encounter her friend in a communal area, being abused by another patient, also suffering from Alzheimer's. The man was lying across the old lady, his hand fumbling at her breast, and his mouth locked on hers. My friend called out to a two care workers, occupied in the adjoining kitchen.
"Oh, we just leave them alone," one said. "You can't separate them when they're like that." The carers flatly refused to intervene.
Care in Hospitals
In 2011, the Care-Quality Commission exposed lapses in the provision of basic care to the elderly in hospital. After one hundred visits, they declared the results "alarming." Yet because of a legal loophole, organisations that provide care at home are not subject to the Human Rights Act. The CQC are now demanding that this loophole should be addressed.
I have personally seen meals left at elderly patients' bedsides, since the nurses were too busy and there were no relatives available to help with feeding. I have heard the repeated pitiful cries of those needing a bedpan, but again, the nurses were all too busy. Mostly, it's not their fault - they really are overworked and there is only so much one person can do.
Protection from Dehumanising Treatment
Alison Holt, BBC Social Affairs Correspondent said that part of the trouble was that the services were under pressure and underfunded. They provided minimal training. Regular inspection of care homes should be implemented.
Baroness Sally Greengross, Commissioner for the EHRC said it was essential that care services respected people's basic human rights. "This is not about burdensome red tape. It is about protecting people from the kind of dehumanising treatment we have uncovered."
Have We Moved On?
Until 2014, vulnerable people being "cared for" at home in the UK did not enjoy Human Rights protection from dehumanising or indifferent treatment. Part of the trouble is that elderly vulnerable people do not always understand what their rights are, or how to go about challenging them. Service providers and staff did not know where they stood if they objected to poor quality provision.
Then, In April, 2014, the law was changed. According to The Guardian:
"People receiving state-funded care in their own homes will now be given additional protection by the Human Rights Act, ministers have conceded following pressure from the Liberal Democrat side of the government.An amendment to the care bill in the Lords will be tabled to make sure the Human Rights Act covers people receiving care in their own home, whether from the state or a private body under contract to the state. It will not apply to self-funded, privately provided care.
The announcement represents a U-turn and follows six months of campaigning by pressure groups for elderly people, as well as by the Liberal Democrats."
Most definitely a step in the right direction, although it's easy to imagine that progress might be challenged by the drastic shortfall in NHS funding we are currently experiencing in 2016. It's hard not to question where we go from here, now that state-funded provision is often unavailable as and when it is needed, and many people are still struggling at home when they should have access to 24 hour supervision.
Sources:
- The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/24/uturn-human-rights-home-care
-
"Elderly failed in own homes by care workers, i, newspaper, London, 23 November 2011.
-
Six O'Clock News & Weather, BBC1, 23.11.2011.
"...and many people are still struggling at home when they should have access to 24 hour supervision."
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Janet!
This is a subject I feel deeply about, and sometimes feel compelled to write about.
Things are very different in the UK to the U.S., but there is so much to be done and there is so much help that is needed by so many elders and carers alike.
Thanks for replying and sharing, Maria. The trouble is that the people in our society who are most vulnerable are those unable, through illness or lack of information, to argue for themselves. My most recent experience, of which you are aware, has made me feel rather angry. In spite of economic downturns, many people have so much, while others, through no fault of their own, have to struggle.
Delete