The Joint Committee on Human Rights has warned that gaps remain in how vulnerable people are protected in care settings, leaving their human rights at risk of being breached.
In a report published today, it finds that mechanisms such as Do Not Attempt Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation notices and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards are often not applied correctly, meaning treatment can be wrongfully withheld or an individual’s liberty infringed.
It calls on the Government to work with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to ensure there is stringent oversight of how care providers implement safeguards designed to protect the human rights of care users.
The report also raises concerns about the slow progress in securing visitation rights for care users. It warns that continued blanket restrictions are a needless risk to the mental and physical wellbeing of care users. It calls on the Government to establish a legal right for care users to nominate individuals for visiting rights. It also calls on the CQC to play a greater role in ensuring care providers are not needlessly blocking care users from seeing loved ones.
The Joint Committee finds that there is currently an imbalance in how human rights are protected in care settings. Where care is publicly funded or arranged, the Human Rights Act can be used directly to uphold the rights of care users, but that is not necessarily the case where care is privately funded. This means that individuals in the same care setting might have different human rights protections. It calls on the Government to consult on whether the protections of the Human Rights Act should be extended to those receiving care and support from all regulated providers.
Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Joanna Cherry MP QC said:
“Care users are some of the most vulnerable in our society and it is vital that the right mechanisms are in place to ensure that they receive appropriate care, accompanied by safeguards that recognise that, for some, the capacity to make informed decisions may be impaired. There also needs to be a careful balance that protects their human rights whilst allowing action to be taken to prevent a risk of harms.
We are concerned that too often safeguards are not being applied correctly. Measures that should be tailored to individual needs, whether it concerns the right to a visit from a loved one or the question of whether someone should be resuscitated, are instead applied across a ward or age group. This is wrong and should not happen.
We have called on the Government to do more to ensure there is a water-tight framework in place to ensure that the treatment of care users is adequate and their human rights respected. The Government must also make sure that care providers are actually following applicable guidelines as they should.”
