Social Policy Dignity in Care - Free Essay Example

Social Policy; Dignity in Care In October 2013 Leonard Cheshire disability published a report entitled Ending 15 Minute Care. This report revealed 60% of 63 local authorities that responded commissioned 15 minute care visits, with some of these authorities delivering over three-quarters of their care visits in just 15 minutes. This publicised that the proportion of these 15 minute visits had risen by 15% over the past five years. (Leonard Cheshire Disability, 2013). This report caused widespread media coverage and public outrage over the state of care currently being received by elderly and disabled people in England. In light of this identified social problem I will look at policy, law and legislation surrounding these issues which relate to my social work practice and will critique what the government attempts to do about them. At the beginning of last year a government policy was published stating that people who use health and care services have the right to be treated with respect, dignity and compassion by staff who have the skills and time to care for them (Department of Health, 2013). The policy aimed to put people first in decisions about care, help staff to be more compassionate and to keep patients and service users safe. However, recent government budget cuts have led to a lack of resources and with an increase in the population eligible for homecare visits, services have been stretched. As a r esult of this 15 minute home care visits, commissioned by local authorities, have been on the rise. Leonard Cheshire disability found that 15% of local authorities delivered more than a quarter of their home care visits in 15 minutes or less. They claimed that there is an overwhelming public opposition to these 15 minute care visits, and reported that of 2,025 British adults polled, 78% agreed that 15 minute visits deprive disabled and older people of their dignity. (Leonard Cheshire Disability, 2013). Although social policy had already been introduced in an attempt to provide better care in both National Health Service and social care settings, this report by Leonard Cheshire had highlighted that there were still concerns that needed to be addressed. This was not the first time in recent years that there had been unease over how home care was being delivered. In 2011 the Equality and Human rights commission published a report, Close to Home, of their inquiry into older people an d their human rights in homecare. It was reported by older people and their family members that there were many instances of neglect due to tasks in the older persons care package not being carried out, the majority of these instances were caused by a lack of time. (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2011). In October 2000 the Human Rights Act, 1998, came into force in Britain, the principal purpose of the act being to empower individuals to enforce 16 of the rights and freedoms which are contained in the European Convention on Human Rights, through UK courts. These fundamental rights provide regulation on the activities of public bodies and include rights that impact on service provision in the health and social care sector, this includes domiciliary or home care. (Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2013). The three primary articles, under the Human Rights Act 1998 which are most relevant to dignity in care are; article 2, the right to life, article 3 the right not to b e subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, and article 8 the right to respect for private and family life. All individuals have the right to life, this means that anyone whose life is at risk has the right to be protected. Equally, any public authorities making decisions either with an individual or on their behalf, which may affect their life expectancy should pay consideration to their right to life. An example of this may be an elderly person who needs reminding to take their medications (Equality and Human Rights Comission, 2006). The right not to be subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment is more often used in grave intrusions with a personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s well-being, however this right can overlap, in certain situations, with the domain of an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s right to respect for private and family life. Article 8 incorporates a personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s physical and psychological integrity into their right for private family life. Case law such as Ben Saidv. The United Kingdom, 2001 and Costello-Roberts v. the United Kingdom, 1993 have highlighted that a personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s body is an intimate aspect of his private life and as such a sound physical and mental state is necessary for an individual to enjoy the right to private life, however interference with a personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s physical or mental integrity would have to reach a certain degree before they were considered a breach of this human right (ECHR, 2008). Another act which strongly relates to dignity in care is the Care Standards Act 2000. Standard 8 of this act sets out regulations in regards to an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s privacy and dignity within domiciliary care. This includes ensuring that service users feel that they are treated with respect and that care and support is delivered in a way which maintains their dignity at all times, this involves paying particular regard to assisting with all personal care such as washing, dressing and manual handling (Department of Health, 2003). Although there are laws, legislation and social policy in place which all seem to encompass dignity in care, there is no clear definition in law as to what dignity actually is. It is suggested by the European court of human rights, as evidenced in the case of SW v The United Kingdom, 1995 that protecting human dignity is at the core of the European Convention of Human Rights (Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2013). Dupre (2011) has stated that while an explicit definition of dignity does not appear in law, this case law highlights that it has materialised as a judge made concept that it is generally located somewhere between the upholding of the Human Rights Act 1998 articles 3 and 8. In 2012 the United Kingdom Home Care Association published a report stating that service userà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s safety and dignity was at risk during short home care visits. Home Care is not a commodity featured descriptions from providers of the type of care that they were expected to deliver in short time periods, of the care providers in England, 27% of carers described the tasks they had to complete as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“putting the service users dignity at riskà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  with a further 6% describing the tasks as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“putting a service users safety at riskà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (The United Kingdom Home Care Association , 2012). In addition to this Unison has recently published an article calling on the government to ban 15 minute home care, claiming that the home carers they had spoken to recurrently expressed concerns that many service users were suffering as these short visits were not enough to provide even the most basic care. The home carers that had responded to Unison had stated that in particular service users with dementia would find the rush of being fed, bathed, medicated and put to bed in such a short space of time, distressing. In addition to this home carers felt that they did not have the time to talk to the people in their care, something they found deeply worrying considering that they may be that individuals only source of social contact on any particular given day (Unison, 2013) In retaliation, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), have defended the use of 15 minute care visits stating that in some cases they are justified and adequate. ADASS president Sandie Keene has stated that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“it is totally wrong to believe that all tasks need more than 15 minutes to carry out. And frankly nave to believe that simply by abolishing 15-minute slots a magic wand will have been waved, and improvements automatically achieved in our care servicesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (ADASS, 2013). In addition to this Lancashire and Blackburn councils had also defended their use of 15 minute home care visits stating that these short visits were only used in conjunction with larger care packages as a means to provide interim checks between longer care visits (Jacobs, 2014 ). In December 2013 the Care Bill was re-entered into the House of Commons for review. In light of this fact, activists such as Leonard Cheshire disability are campaigning to establish, in law, a minimum of 30 minutes for home care, thereby abolishing what have been termed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"flying visitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. If this is to be approved then this law will come into being in 2015 (Parliament, 2013). In regards to dignity in care there has been previous social policy to prevent it, there has also been laws claiming to protect an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rights to receiving dignity in care. Although the care bill is likely to come through parliament establishing in law a minimum time of 30 minutes on care visits, It appears that until there is a legal definition of dignity, authorities and home care providers will continue to be unclear about what actually constitutes as dignity in care. References ADASS, 2013. Care Report: 15 Minutes can be enough. [Online] Available at: https://www.adass.org.uk/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=935:fifteen-minute-care-arrangmentscatid=160:press-releases-2013Itemid=489 [Accessed 21 February 2014]. Department of Health, 2003. Domiciliary Care National Minimum Standards. [Online] Available at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://www.age-platform.eu%2Fimages%2Fstories%2Fuk_minimumcarestandarts_athome.pdf [Accessed 9 February 2014]. Department of Health, 2013. GOV.UK. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/treating-patients-and-service-users-with-respect-dignity-and-compassion [Accessed 7 December 2013]. Dupre, C., 2011. What does dignity mean in a legal context?. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2011/mar/24/dignity-uk-europe-human-rights [Accessed 9 February 2014]. ECHR, 2008. Protection of physical and psychological integrity under article 8 ECHR. [Online] Available at: https://echr-online.com/art-8-echr/private-life/physical-integrity [Accessed 8 February 2014]. Equality and Human Rights Comission, 2006. Right to Life. [Online] Available at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/what-are-human-rights/the-human-rights-act/right-to-life/ [Accessed 08 February 2014]. Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2011. Equality Human Rights. [Online] Available at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://www.equalityhumanrights.com%2Fuploaded_files%2FhomecareFI%2Fhome_care_report.pdf [Accessed 18 February 2014]. Jacobs, B., 2014. East Lancashire councils defend criticism of 15-minute appointments for elderly and disabled. [Online] Available at: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburndarwenhyndburnribble/10724354.East_Lancashire_councils_defend_criticism_of_15_minute_appointments_for_elderly_and_disabled/ [Accessed 21 February 2014]. Leonard Cheshire Disability, 2013. Ending 15-minut e care, London: Leonard Cheshire Disability. Parliament, 2013. Care Bill [HL]. [Online] Available at: https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/care.html [Accessed 22 February 2014]. Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2013. Dignity in Care. [Online] Available at: https://www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide15/legislation/humanrightsact/ [Accessed 31 January 2014]. The United Kingdom Home Care Association , 2012. Care is not a Commodity. [Online] Available at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://www.ukhca.co.uk%2Fpdfs%2FUKHCACommissioningSurvey2012.pdf [Accessed 10 February 2014]. Unison, 2013. 73% of councils still commission 15 minute care visits. [Online] Available at: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/73-of-councils-still-commission-15-minute-care-visits [Accessed 21 02 2014].