Sunday 10 December 2017 is UN Human Rights Day.
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December – the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, Human Rights Day kicks off a year-long campaign to mark the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being — regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
To coincide with this important day, Scottish Care is delighted to announce the launch of our latest Care Cameo – Human Rights and Social Care.
This, the 4th in Scottish Care’s Care Cameo series*, is written by Judith Robertson, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. She highlights a range of challenges which are of real urgency to all who are concerned about social care and its future direction in Scotland.
Throughout 2017 Scottish Care has sought to argue the importance of moving beyond the rhetoric of rights to the reality of their delivery. This Care Cameo summarises that challenge with real articulacy and urgency. Its arguments should be the focus of all our efforts in
2018 and beyond.
It is time to bridge the human rights gap in social care in Scotland.
Care Cameo 4 human rights and social care
*The Care Cameos series is designed to present short but, we hope, challenging sketches of various issues and to provide a forum to encourage and foster debate on a whole range of issues important for the delivering of care and support for older individuals across Scotland.
Donald’s Journey Through Enablement
Donald had been a teacher. At the time of the Improvement project, he was living alone in his flat. He had family but no children. Over time he became depressed and alcohol became a problem for him. He was diagnosed with dementia and his family took out a Power of Attorney.
By the time he was 75, Donald had ceased to care for himself. He stopped washing himself and his diet was very poor. His self-neglect was so severe that he was doubly incontinent and had a sacral pressure sore. In 2014, he was admitted to a nursing home and Scottish Care Enablement Trainers started training the staff in the Enablement approach. Though Donald walked independently without any aids, he isolated himself, rarely leaving his room. He spent hours in bed, uncommunicative and very challenging with staff when they tried to encourage his personal care. It became obvious that he engaged best with one staff member. Though she only worked two days a week, he allowed her to tend to his wound.
The Enablement Trainers guided care home staff to write support plans which ensured that all staff behaved in a consistent manner with Donald. They were to warmly and gently engage with him to win his trust but allow him to set his own pace. The staff did not give up on him and gradually, over nine months, Donald started to engage with his daily care. His family remained supportive and through them it was discovered that Donald loved dogs. Therapets were brought in for him.
By 2015, Donald was no longer incontinent, he washed daily and changed his clothes appropriately. Regular medication and a nutritious diet improved his mood and bodily functions. He liked to help so he was given the task of serving the drinks at mealtimes. Then he began to help with the garden, enjoying weeding and picking up litter. He took such an interest in his life that he would edit his own support plans, deleting certain instructions and writing ‘I can do this’. It was important to him to remember staff names so he wrote them down and always addressed staff by their proper names. He expressed a desire to go into town, so working collaboratively with his family, Donald started taking the bus into Aberdeen. Initially he was accompanied but over time he became fully independent.
By 2016, it was mutually decided that Donald could leave the nursing home. He has since moved into sheltered accommodation. Before he left, he got a card and had each staff member sign it as a memento.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a new report based on its year-long market study of care homes across the UK.
The review focused on whether the care home sector is working well for older people and their families.
The report’s general findings include:
- The current system for providing care is not sustainable without additional funding. The CMA’s financial analysis of the sector has identified a funding shortfall of £1 billion a year across the UK because councils are paying fee rates for the residents they fund which are below the costs care homes incur. This has led to care homes propping up their finances by charging higher prices to those who pay for their own care (self-funders). On average, self-funders’ fees (£44,000 per year) are around 40% higher than those paid by councils (UK average).
- Beyond the challenges of continuing to meet existing needs, the sector must grow substantially as the population ages. However, uncertainty about future funding, including whether council fees will cover the full costs of care, currently means that there is not enough investment in new accommodation for council-funded residents.
- Many people choose care homes during an emotionally traumatic time, but the basic information and support needed is often not available to help them navigate the system and make informed choices.
- There needs to be greater protection in place for people in care homes. Residents and their families often find it difficult to raise concerns or make complaints, and the systems for redress and feedback need to be improved. There is also too great a risk of residents being treated unfairly, and in breach of their rights under consumer law. Examples of the CMA’s concerns include where homes are not being clear enough up front about their prices or terms and conditions, do not protect residents’ deposits effectively against the risk of insolvency, are not fair when asking a resident to leave or when they ban visitors.
Throughout the study, the Competition and Markets Authority have engaged with Scottish Care and members to better understand the particularities and nuances of the Scottish care home sector: its challenges, developments and how it operates differently to other parts of the UK. This has included focus groups and multiple telephone interviews, plus the sharing of Scottish Care’s research and reports.
Based on the CMA’s engagement with various stakeholders in Scotland, the final report includes a Scottish summary of the market study’s findings.
It identifies two broad areas for improvement in Scotland:
- Those requiring care need greater support in choosing a care home and greater protections when they are resident. Current and prospective care home residents must be able to make the right choices, and must be protected if things don’t work out as expected;
- Issues around state-funded care and the provision of sustainable capacity – the market must support the state’s intention to ensure that all those who have care needs have them met. This requires that the industry must be sustainable and incentivised to invest and modernise to meet future needs.
In light of these areas, the CMA have made a number of recommendations to the Scottish Government, the Care Inspectorate, local authorities, IJBs and the care home sector. These include:
- A programme of actions around clear and accurate information, supported decision making and awareness raising to enable people to make informed decisions about their options when choosing a care home and to ensure they are aware of their entitlements.
- Safeguarding actions to protect against infringements on consumer law, such as the development of detailed guidance for care homes and residents, stronger regulatory oversight of consumer law compliance and the use of model contracts between care homes and prospective residents.
- Improvements to complaints systems such as a review of access to advocacy services and closer inspections of feedback mechanisms.
The report also gives particular focus to the issue of state funded care and its sustainability currently and in the future. It clearly recognises the shortfall in state funding in meeting the cost of care and recognises the importance of investment in the care home sector.
Recommendations are made in this area for other parts of the UK. However for Scotland, the CMA explicitly welcome the ongoing development of a cost of care model for local authority-funded care and the planning and commissioning roles of IJBs. The CMA has therefore opted not to make specific recommendations other than to stress the importance of the ongoing assessment and monitoring of these actions to ensure they are delivering the changes required. The report emphasises:
“Our concerns around the delivery of state-funded social care are important, as the delivery of an effective and sustainable social care system must be maintained.”
Scottish Care will continue to work with partners and stakeholders around these recommendations.
Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO, said:
“Scottish Care welcomes the publication of the CMA’s market study, particularly in its articulation of the reality long described by Scottish Care – that there is significant and damaging underfunding of social care in Scotland and the rest of the UK. It highlights the impact of stripping tens of millions of pounds out of social care by Westminster and by Scottish Government, which can only serve to negatively and disproportionately impact on our older and vulnerable citizens. Current rates of as low as £3.42 an hour to support an elderly person with multiple and complex needs for 24 hours, 7 days a week in a care home in Scotland in no way meets the true cost of providing high quality, sustainable care. It is absolutely essential that this funding reality is addressed as a matter of urgency in order that everyone who requires care home support can receive this in a way that promotes equality, transparency, dignity and respect.”
The full CMA report can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a1fdf30e5274a750b82533a/care-homes-market-study-final-report.pdf
The Scottish summary can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a201ae7ed915d458b922ec6/scotland-short-summary-care-homes-market-study.pdf
The CMA’s financial report, published in September, can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/59b2bb0ae5274a5cfcda2d18/financial_analysis_working_paper.pdf
The following is the text of an Address which was delivered by Dr Donald Macaskill, Scottish Care Chief Executive, at the start of the conference ‘Raising the Standard: older people’s care and human rights.’ held in Glasgow on Wednesday 29th November.
The Perils of Human Rights Complacency
Human rights and their abuse are in some contexts all too apparent, they are in your face, wholly transparent, and easy to recognise.
It is easy to see the relevance of human rights in the prison cell where political opponents of a regime are tortured; in the queues of malnourished children waiting to be fed fleeing from Myanmar; in the faces of individuals devoid of hope surviving in a place where economic corruption benefits the few at the expense of the many.
But it is much less easy to see human rights and their potential abuse in places where a veneer of material wealth is the norm; where people still get access to care and health services; where poverty is hidden; where there may be voices of protest but rarely voices of pain; where the language of human rights has become commonplace, part of the political grammar and rhetoric.
Elie Wiesel, the prominent Holocaust survivor addressing President Clinton in 1999 delivered a speech called ‘The Perils of Indifference.’ In it he said:
‘Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end.
And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.’
Wiesel was pointing to a powerful truth, namely that to be indifferent to the plight of another robs that person of hope, it takes promise away from them and removes the dream that things might change.
I would contend that in our own context we are neither faced with the direct affront to or the assault upon human rights; nor indeed the casual indifference where openly and publicly a society, its people and representatives do not care about human rights. That is not our society.
But rather than both of these positions I want to suggest that in our society we are today faced with a human rights complacency – and that that complacency not only eats at hope, but limits action and serves to negate protest.
This morning I want to, paraphrasing Elie Wiesel, say that we are in danger of the perils of human rights complacency – right here and right now in Scotland.
And why am I making that assertion?
Well to begin with what do I mean about complacency? To be complacent is to be satisfied with a situation to such an extent that you cease to try harder… if things are not broken don’t waste the energy in trying to change them, don’t expend time in seeking betterment. Find other battles to fight.
So where do I see this complacency?
First of all, we do indeed have a solid basis of human rights both in legislative and policy terms. Indeed, at times I often hear how we are admired by others for the way in which human rights are at the very heart of our legislation and policy, not least social care and health policy.
Human rights complacency happens when stakeholders delude themselves into thinking that the articulation of rights is equivalent to the realisation of those rights. Merely having excellent human rights based legislation does not give the citizen the ability to realise and access those self-same human rights.
In too many instances from Self-directed Support to the proportionality and inclusion of decision making for those with limited capacity – we talk a good game but the reality is less than what we would desire.
The failure to invest, to monitor, to hold accountable and to hold to task those who have acted against the human rights enshrined within the Self-directed Support Act should shame us all – but the peril of human rights complacency is that we issue an Audit report, utter some rebuke, gain some negative media headlines but effectively fail to really challenge and change the systemic breach of those human rights.
So today across Scotland we will still have instances where hundreds of older people will fail to be properly assessed, informed of what budget they have to spend, be given real choice for their care and support, and if they want to, be able to alter that package of care and do something new and different. For too many there is no choice. No transparent offering of information to enable folks to make decisions. Rather, there is a complacent attitude that the old don’t want the fuss or trouble of taking control of their lives.
Secondly, with a such a rich heritage of anti-discrimination practice enshrined in the Equality Act, we might well consider as a society that in Scotland we treat all people with equality, regardless of distinctive or minority characteristic, recognising of course the need to treat some people differently in order to ensure such equality.
But any successful equality and human rights legislative framework demands that it is used to rigorously assess the impact of policy and practice change. So where are all the human rights impact assessments on some of the significant plans and proposals being put forward in the last few weeks by some of the Integrated Joint Boards or Health and Social Care Partnerships? If you are changing the shape and face of care as some of these will have the effect of doing- it is absolutely an act of care and human rights complacency not to rigorously assess what such changes might mean for some of our most vulnerable citizens.
Indeed, some of the proposals which have been published, though they may be couched in careful language, are presenting a limited, skewed and partial picture of the reality of care for older Scots. They are presuming upon the existence of family and informal care capable of taking over from professional paid care; they are endangering our older citizens with a casual arithmetic of austerity which is in turn in danger of saving money but costing lives.
Human rights complacency exists where we do not have robust follow through and assessment of whether or not we are walking the talk. It is a fundamental plank of the human rights framework that we undertake action where we identify that there is a need to mitigate proposals or plans which act against people and their dignity.
Thirdly we pride ourselves in Scotland, do we not, as the inheritors of the common man kailyard of Rabbie Burns, that we treat all women and men as sisters and brothers – as equal in community with one another?
But perhaps it is this romantic notion that evidences the most damaging complacency of human rights. If we truly open our eyes what we see in Scotland today is a subtle, sometimes hidden, undercurrent of unequal treatment and discrimination. The primary victims of that are the old, the frail and the infirm.
It is surely nothing less than discrimination that we do not give the same opportunities to older citizens that we give to those who are younger; that in the evidence of the recent Scottish Care report, Fragile Foundations, that we treat the mental health needs of older Scots as being of less significance than those who are deemed as adults; that we invest £500million in new provision and services for young children and early years but seek to continually slash and reduce what we spend on the old and infirm. This is not to create a generation war, lest some think it is, it is rather a calling into question the human rights basis for budgetary decisions which disproportionately and negatively impact upon the old. We are engaged in a human rights complacency if we imagine we can achieve human rights in practice without a rigorous human rights impact assessment on the way we choose as a country to allocate our resources and spend our finances.
As we consider options available for our nation in the days during which our budget is set, where does human rights fit into these decisions and priorities? Are our politicians balancing human rights in the political equation? I would love finally for someone to see social care not as a burden, as a cost, as a drain, but rather as opportunity, as asset, as an economic driver, worthy of investment, growth and innovation.
Fourthly and lastly, we have seen brought into play an excellent set of human rights based Health and Care Standards and we will spend some time this afternoon focusing on these. A lot of energy and work has been put into their development, articulation and acceptance by a wide range of stakeholders. But yet again merely having a set of indicators and Standards doth not a human rights system of care and health make.
Where is the specific resource to enable those who hold these rights to understand their meaning and relevance, and thus to exercise them? Where is the resource to enable those tens of thousands of workers who will be responsible for putting them into practice and for fulfilling them – where is the resource to train, equip, build the understanding and confidence of the workforce?
There is a complacency that assumes embedding rights costs nothing – if we are serious rather than just playing for adulation, applause and soundbites – then we need to resource the embedding of human rights. To fail to do so is complacency.
There is a fantastic potential in the realisation of human rights. Lives are changed, people gain a sense of purpose, equal treatment sits at the heart of services, dignity is enshrined to protect the most vulnerable. Raising the Standard is the challenge which lies at the heart of all human rights policy and action. But we are not there – in fact, I fear we are, at this present time losing rather than gaining our ground. To paraphrase an oft quoted aspiration of the First Minister – we are not so much reaching beyond the ceiling of human rights but we are starting to dig down into the cellar.
So throughout today we will be encouraged to see the potential of realising our human rights, of raising the standards of human rights for older people, but let us not be complacent that we have a short distance to travel before we live in a society where rights can be taken as normative and accepted by all.
Elie Wiesel said:
‘The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.’
I believe that we also betray our humanity and lessen our society, if we become so complacent that we fail to recognise the subtle diminishing of rights, the closed ear to the cries of those lonely and isolated; if we fail to hear the fragile voice of those frail with age, but still seeking equal treatment and dignity. To do so does indeed demean our humanity. It is a human rights complacency that is now taking root in Scotland.
Dr Donald Macaskill
CEO, Scottish Care
@DrDMacaskill
Care body warns of human rights complacency in Scotland
The representative body for independent care services has called on the Scottish Government to make human rights meaningful for older people in Scotland, including those living with dementia.
Scottish Care has today warned that Scotland is becoming ‘complacent’ in protecting against everyday human rights abuses for vulnerable citizens through a lack of action.
The call for action will be made at an event in Glasgow today (29 Nov), which will bring together stakeholders from across health and social care to explore the realities of human rights for care delivery in Scotland.
At the event, Scottish Care CEO Dr Donald Macaskill will tell delegates:
“Human rights complacency happens when people delude themselves into thinking that the articulation of rights is equivalent to the realisation of those rights. Merely having excellent human rights based legislation does not give citizens the ability to realise and access those self-same human rights.
“In too many instances, such as Self-directed Support, we talk a good game in Scotland but the reality is less than what we would desire.
“The failure to invest, to monitor, to hold accountable and to hold to task those who have acted against the human rights enshrined within the Self-directed Support Act should shame us all. The peril of human rights complacency is that we issue an Audit report, utter some rebuke, gain some negative media headlines, but effectively fail to really challenge and change the systemic breach of those human rights.
“So today across Scotland we will still have instances where hundreds of older people will fail to be properly assessed, informed of what budget they have to spend, be given real choice for their care and support, and if they want to, be able to alter that package of care and do something new and different. For too many there is no choice. No transparent offering of information to enable folks to make decisions. Rather, there is a complacent attitude that the old don’t want the fuss or trouble of taking control of their lives.”
The event will also see the launch of a new fund, made available by Scottish Care and Life Changes Trust, aimed at making rights real for people with dementia living in care homes.
Speaking about the Rights Made Real fund, which care home services can apply for, Dr Macaskill said:
“I am delighted that Life Changes Trust has dedicated £300,000 to work alongside Scottish Care to further embed human rights in Scotland’s care homes. I look forward to seeing a whole range of creative projects which will help care homes to get even better at delivering a human-rights based approach to care.”
Anna Buchanan, Programme Director at Life Changes Trust, added:
“The funding on offer from the Life Changes Trust is for initiatives in care homes that demonstrate better ways of making rights real for people who live there. Care home residents still have a life to live and they have the right to thrive. Older people, including those living with dementia, have a right to maintain strong connections with family and friends, with their communities and with the things that matter to them. They do not give up these rights when they cross the threshold of a care home. We are looking to fund creative and innovative projects and ways of working that will benefit people living with dementia and show others how to make rights real in care homes.”
Would you like to make a difference and contribute to the work of the Care Inspectorate? If so, there are roles which have just been advertised and which may interest you.
Scottish Minsters are looking to make-up to three appointments to the Board of the Care Inspectorate from 1 March 2018.
The Care Inspectorate regulates and inspects care services in Scotland to make sure that they meet the right standards. They also jointly inspect with other regulators to check how well different organisations in local areas work to support adults and children. Set up by Scottish Government, and accountable to ministers, it is their job to assure and protect everyone that uses these services. They work to make sure that everyone gets safe, high quality care that meets their needs. Their 600 staff work across Scotland, inspecting thousands of services each year.
The Chair and the eleven members of the Board set the strategic direction of the Care Inspectorate, taking into account legislation and policy guidance set by the Scottish Government. Each member of the board brings a wealth of experience and wide-ranging skills, along with a passionate interest in social care.
Ministers are looking for those who have:
- experience of caring for someone who is using, or has used, social care and/or social work services; or
- strategic experience of Local Government or Integration Authorities; or
- strategic experience of social care provision or commissioning gained in the public, independent or voluntary sectors.
Those appointed would also need to demonstrate:
- ability to examine and review complex issues and reach decisions;
- ability to demonstrate you can work effectively in a team or group environment to deliver results;
- ability to challenge constructively and influence decision as part of a group; and
- ability to communicate effectively.
The appointments are for up to four years, with the possibility of reappointment.
Members receive £163.00 per day for a time commitment of up to two days per month.
Travel and subsistence allowances are also payable, however, the appointments are not pensionable.
Full information on the appointments is at www.appointed-for-scotland.org/. The closing date for applications is Friday, 15 December 2017.
Scottish Ministers welcome applications from groups currently under-represented on Scotland’s public bodies, such as women, disabled people and people aged under 50.
