We also explored how our approach can have a profound effect on how someone perceives the idea of doing an activity – a fresh face can help if someone has been having an unsettled morning with the same support worker. We also spoke about never assuming – just because someone has said no 100 times in the past, we could naturally assume they don’t want to try an activity – or by having an “this is the way it has always been” attitude we can hinder someone’s right to personal choice of trying new experiences. It is very important to remember to be curious and never assume you know what a person’s reaction will be, they might just surprise you. This is as much true of relationships in care as it is in everyday life. What remains important is that the encouragement is balanced and proportionate and never gets to the stage of enforced coercion, bullying and manipulation. To achieve to our potential and to gain psychological and physical integrity is a core part of the realisation of our Article 8 rights.

One project looked at the health and social care standards and thought how they link in in terms of anticipatory care planning. They agreed that no resident should be discriminated against in terms of the services available to them due to status as a care home resident or a diagnosis of dementia, by exploring the preference of final days being spent at family home and how the care home could help to facilitate this, upholding their right to private and family life (article 8 of the HRA 1998).

Dignity and Respect - 1.2: “My human rights are protected and promoted and I experience no discrimination.”

Respecting resident’s human rights at the end of life

The art of balancing the resident’s last wishes with that of their relatives and how to do this sensitively came up on several occasions.

As a support provider we should always respect a resident’s last wishes even when they look different to our own views and cultural beliefs. We should always support the person to achieve their wishes even if it is not what their family want. (Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion article 9 of the HRA 1998). An example the group discussed was of a resident that was very vivacious in life but wanted a private funeral. We explored how that made staff feel and they came to their own conclusion that they had to respect the resident’s wishes to privacy even though it was difficult to know they could not attend her funeral.

Some of the managers gave us feedback on how their staff about the human rights in practice workshops.

‘It was an absolute pleasure having you come along to [care home] and deliver [human rights workshop] to my staff. It was great success - the staff are still regaling about it and how it sparked memories and made them reflect on their practice past and present’.

 

The manager commented that the workshops and input have changed the attitudes of staff from, “this is an awkward conversation that neither party would like to have, with a tick box form, to an attitude of .. wanting to personalise the process to help staff find out what is important to the resident, their relatives and learn how to help to include them to live a life they want to right up until the last days and hours”.

Dignity is an inherent principle of human rights legislation with its beginnings seen many times throughout the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights document. Indeed Article 1 of the Declaration states that:

‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’

Dignity is therefore tightly connected to humanity, freedom and equality from birth. It can be most prominently seen to be included in article 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 – the right to freedom of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. Having an awareness of what could be compromising a person’s dignity or identity is vital in being able to deliver high quality care and support that is right for that individual, especially for those who have protected characteristics for example a diagnosis of dementia.  

Everyone is involved in activity e.g. chef chatting with residents and finding out what people like to eat. One of the residents wrote a braille letter to the chef for the lovely selection of food that reminded him of his late wife’s cooking.

The musician knew the residents well, he knew some of their names and knew how they liked to engage, e.g. what songs they like

A support worker assisted a resident to a football match and commentates the game for him.

The support worker said to activities coordinator, “I’ve supported you, can you support me?” Teamwork is vital in helping each other grow in confidence of their own abilities.

With each activity, there is an opportunity for staff to learn about residents’ behaviour and preferences, for example, one lady sat further away during a music activity as the staff knew she didn’t like to be too close to the noise and she liked to hear from a distance.

Compassion 1.6 : “I get the most out of life because the people and organisation who support and care for me have an enabling attitude and believe in my potential.”

Two of the projects are focusing on resident led activities, however all the care homes are involved in providing activities that the residents enjoy and find meaningful in their lives. Activities don’t have to be all singing all dancing, activities ca meaningful care, experiences and spending time with a resident doing things they enjoy, no matter how small.

Over the Summer there has been lots of progress within the Rights Made Real in Care Homes Project.

• Three human rights workshops successfully completed with another two dates set before the end of the year.
• Two projects are coming to the end of their project and had a celebration event to reflect on all they have achieved and how they plan on embedding the learning.
• The sensory garden in Tiree is blossoming and is due to be completed in the next month
• Group Zoom call on the 11^th September was a great success where we explored the progress of each project that was represented, different tools such as curiosity cards and the use of language in human rights. Our next group Zoom call is on 6^th November

We are also excited and preparing for a two-day learning and sharing event in Perth, where all the projects no matter where they are on their journey are coming together to:

• reflect and celebrate how far they have come
• share their journey with others
• think about how their practice has changed in terms of “I used to but I now….”
• think about 'why YOU are so important in the realization of human rights'
• future form – 'how do we embed this learning and where do we go from here?'

We can’t wait to share the findings from the upcoming learning event with you all in the near future.

On Tuesday and Friday on the next few weeks we will be sharing reflections from the projects across each of the following themes: