#AllOurRights10
Carers Rights Day Blog from our CEO, Dr Donald Macaskill
On the 10th December which is the annual Human Rights Day there is reason for multiple celebration. That date is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. As part of attempts to raise awareness of the significance of these events and the priority of human rights have in Scottish society a social media campaign has been launched with the hashtag – #AllOurRights10. Starting today (30 November) the Scottish Human Rights Commission will be releasing one short digital film per day, sharing ten different stories of people working to protect and promote human rights in their own community or context. They are all about highlighting the value and relevance of human rights in people’s lives. Today is Carers Rights Day. See https://www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/carers-rights-day/carers-rights-day-resources . It is also St Andrews Day, so a day of celebration of national identity and affirmation of our sense of belonging one to the other. It is therefore very appropriate that it is a day when we consider the importance of human rights to both paid and unpaid care and the role that care for others can have in creating a society in Scotland which values all, has care at its centre, and creates potential for everyone to be treated with dignity and respect. A couple of weeks ago I had the immense privilege of speaking to the Coalition of Carers conference in Edinburgh. The room was full of dedicated individuals who were involved in either supporting family carers or who were individuals who cared for a family member. I spoke to the group about how important it was for us to see the rights of family carers as basic human rights. We reflected on the way in which over the last ten years and more since the Scottish Parliament was formed that human rights have become embedded in political and policy discourse, and how so many pieces of our social care legislation have human rights at their core. However, I also shared my belief, and it is not inappropriate to reflect upon this today as we start to consider the approach to the 10th December, that the journey towards the realisation of human rights cannot conclude with the passing of innovative and good legislation. The real journey towards embedding rights for unpaid and family carers and for those who work in social care has to be in the robust implementation of all this good human rights based social care legislation. In that analysis, I believe, we still have a considerable distance to go on the journey. Sadly we know all too often and for far too many, especially older Scots, that the promise is unfulfilled. There are too many citizens today across Scotland who are not being able to fulfil their rights to the provisions of e.g., the Self-directed Support legislation. There are too many instances where we are playing at the system change and power transfer which some of our social care legislation predicates. There are too many who are not being properly assessed for their social care outcomes but for whom basic needs are only being addressed; too many who are not being told what budget they have to spend and are being denied information to enable them to exercise informed choice; too many who are having even their already basic packages of care diminished and reduced. We stand or fall in human rights terms not by what we promise and speak of, not by what we legislate and declare, but by what we enact, do and fulfil. In those terms we have some way to go before we have the ability to say that social care in Scotland has truly embedded human rights principles and is realising the human rights of our citizens. Implementation of rights is as critical as the articulation of those rights. Robust monitoring and inclusive evaluation is fundamental to ensuring people are not being led up to the top of the hill of promise and then let to slide backwards into disappointment. Every day 6,000 people across the UK become carers but often it’s not something they have prepared or planned for. This year’s Carers Rights Day is focusing on supporting people to prepare for the future through the theme Caring for Your Future.  It has three main focus areas:
- Making carers aware of their rights.
- Letting carers know where to get help and support.
- Raising awareness of the needs of carers.
Carers Rights Day raises awareness of the needs of carers with the wider public, decision makers and professionals. Its aim is to realise the vision of a society that respects, values and supports carers. Too often in the past the voices of paid care organisations and family carers have been seen in opposition or discord, but the truth is that care unites us around a joint desire to ensure that the human rights of those cared for are upheld, that the abilities of unpaid and paid carers are valued and resourced, and that together we work to create a society where those who require support achieve and receive adequate care which enables them to continue to be the full citizens of our shared community, entitled to full rights and to be treated with full dignity. That journey starts with good legislation for carers and social care, it progresses with robust implementation of it, and it reaches its end with a society that truly gives value, affirms and welcomes the contribution and presence of all. That, I would suggest, was the energy and passion which inspired those who sat and signed the UN Declaration nearly 70 years ago. It should be our shared task on this Carers Rights Day and every day. Dr Donald Macaskill @DrDMacaskill
New Care Cameo launched at Right to be Heard event
Scottish Care is delighted to launch our latest Care Cameo – the eighth in this series – in partnership with deafscotland.
The new Care Cameo has been written by Janis McDonald, CEO of deafscotland, and colleagues Carolyn Scott and Mandy Reid.
It focuses on the challenges facing individuals with various forms of hearing impairment, particularly when they access care and support services. It challenges us all to better understand the experiences of these individuals and to positively adapt practice so that communication is fully inclusive.
The Care Cameo was launched today (29 November 2018) at Scottish Care and deafscotland’s ‘Right to be Heard’ event in Glasgow.
To read the Care Cameo, click here.
Dementia Champions Programme – accepting applications until 8 December
The Scottish Government are supporting 100 people to take this 5 day professional development course, with 22 places available to social service workers in appropriate roles. It will support participants to achieve knowledge and skills at the Enhanced dementia practice level, as described in Promoting Excellence: a framework for all health and social service staff working with people with dementia, their families and carers (2011). On completing the course, Dementia Champions have access to a support network to connect them to ongoing professional development opportunities.
You are encouraged to apply if you are:
- working in a senior role with organisational support to implement both small and large scale change;
- working in a hospital setting e.g. hospital based social worker, or at the interface between hospital and community-based support
- working in a care home, care at home or other social care organisation.
The course will begin in April and end in August 2019.
Applications from social service workers must reach the SSSC by FRIDAY 8 DECEMBER 2018.
Email [email protected] to request an application pack.
Funding Opportunity for Nurses
Applications are now open for The General Nursing Council for Scotland (Education) Fund and Margaret Callum Rodger Award. The awards are an education and learning opportunity for registered nurses and midwives to undertake educational developments, study tours or carry out small scale projects, all of which must make a difference to patient or client care.
The Fund will close for submission of applications at 5.00pm on Wednesday 23rd January 2019.
Further information about the scholarship and the application form can be found on the NES website www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-discipline/nursing-and-midwifery/information-for- practitioners/general-nursing-council.aspx
Flyer 2018 With WEBCitation event – 5 December
The Right to be Heard – new blog from our CEO
It is not distance that keeps people apart, it is the failure to hear and be heard.
Every minute of every day we are communicating. The texts we send, the words we speak, the looks we give, the touch we offer – all send messages to those we are linked with and in relationship to.
Imagine not being able to do that. Imagine that your words are misunderstood, your texts do not get sent but stay on your phone; your presence is resisted and your touch brushed off.
To be excluded because you cannot communicate, to be shut out because people do not understand, to be ignored because you are not valued and recognised … that must surely be real emptiness and abandonment.
Yet that is precisely what the day to day experience of tens of thousands of our fellow Scots feels like every single minute of every day. They are excluded because we have created a distance which separates them from us and us from them. We have failed to hear and allow people to be heard and thus the distance has grown into a divide.
I have, to my shame, only recently become as fully aware of the enormous extent of hearing issues facing the population of Scotland. The fact that in Scotland 40% of the population over the age of forty, 60% over the age 60 and 75% over 75s experience some sort of hearing difficulties I was wholly unaware of.
For thousands of these individuals this means that they are excluded from any real and meaningful participation in society. It is not just that they miss out on snippets of conversation here and there it is to put it simply that they have a cloak of invisibility and absence even if they are physically present. Their contribution is not recognised, their voice is not heard.
We have for too long made hearing impairment and hearing difficulties the butt of humour. For too long we have presumed that hearing difficulties are just an inconvenience rather than accepting the reality of their exclusion and their immense impact on individual mental health and well-being. For too long we have considered issues of hearing loss to be the inevitable consequence of age and a condition to be accepted and tholed. For too long we have disabled those born deaf by failing to adequately change the fabric of our society to include, value and treat these individuals as citizens with equal rights and the same entitlements as any other.
On Thursday this week Scottish Care will be hosting a morning workshop with deafscotland to argue for greater priority in general to be given to these issues and for the importance of the care sector addressing the challenges and welcoming the opportunities which are brought by individuals who have hearing difficulties. This is a very real attempt to start a wider public discourse around how we better include and value people who are receiving care but whose hearing difficulties have served to further dis-able and exclude them from engagement, participation and involvement.
In essence this is a matter of individual rights and collective responsibility.
I hope you will come and join us on the day and begin to work with us and deafscotland as we challenge the societal barriers and lack of resource which continues to fail to hear the voice of those with a right to be heard.
Programme and booking details are available at: https://www.scottishcare.org/right-to-be-heard/
Dr Donald Macaskill
@DrDMacaskill
CMA publishes new consumer law advice for care homes
The CMA has published new advice so care homes understand their responsibilities under consumer law.
The advice has been published as part of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) ongoing consumer protection work into residential care homes and nursing homes for older people (over 65s) across the UK.
It follows the CMA’s examination of the sector last year, which found that some residents are at risk of being treated unfairly and recommended urgent action to reform the sector.
The CMA has also published an open letter to care homes, reminding them of their responsibilities under consumer law and urging them to review the advice immediately. Care homes may need to make changes to their contract terms and business practices as a result.
Working with its partners such as Trading Standards, the CMA will be conducting a review in 12 months’ time to assess how well care homes are complying with consumer law. It may take further action before then if it finds care homes are treating residents and their families unfairly and breaking the law.
The new advice sets out what care homes across the UK need to do to ensure they are treating their residents fairly, including:
- What upfront information they should give to potential residents, their families or other representatives and when (through websites, over the phone and when people visit) to help them make informed choices. This includes giving an indication of the weekly fees charged to self-funders and highlighting any especially important or surprising terms and conditions that will apply (such as any requirement for residents to prove they can pay for their own care for a minimum period of time)
- How to make sure contract terms and the way residents and their representatives are treated is fair
- How to handle complaints fairly and ensure their complaints procedure is easy to find and use
The CMA has also published a short guide for care homes to accompany the full advice, as well as a short guide for residents and their families that explains their rights under consumer law.
Consumer law advice for providers
Short guide to consumer rights for residents
Scottish Care Autumn Roadshow event – Rescheduled
Scottish Care members in Angus, Perth & Kinross and Tayside should be aware that the Autumn Roadshow event scheduled for 22 November in Dundee will now take place on 19 December.
For the full details on this, including how to reserve your place please visit the relevant events page on our website.Â
