Rights of people living in care homes

Rights of people living in care homes

There are certain regulations outlined in law (The Health and Social Care Act) that outline what care providers MUST do to ensure that residents’ rights are protected when receiving personal care and living in a care home. They cover things like:

• Registration of the care home.
• Protection from abuse.
• Assessment of Needs and having a care plan.
• Choices, communication, dignity and privacy.
• Cleanliness of the premises.
• Having an effective system to deal with and respond to complaints.
• Consent for care and treatment.
• Having the right equipment.
• Seeking and responding to feedback.
• Choices about food and assistance with eating and drinking.
• Safe management of medicines that meet your needs.
• Protection from unsafe care.
• Records of care and treatment.
• Respecting and involving service users.
• Staffing levels and quality.
  

Duty of Care:

All of these rights and regulations come together to form what is termed the Duty of Care. This is a duty owed by care workers and organisations to the people they support. The duty of care is enshrined in law and is a must, it’s not something care homes can choose to do. In law failure to uphold the duty of care is neglect at best, or worse criminal. If something, an action or lack of action or decision or lack of decision breaches the duty of care it is likely to represent a safeguarding issue or a crime.

Duty of Care is defined simply as a legal obligation (for staff) to:

• always act in the best interest of individuals and others.
• not act or fail to act in a way that results in harm.
• act within your competence and not take on anything you do not believe you can safely do.

All care workers owe a duty of care to the people they provide support too, their colleagues, their employer, themselves and the public interest (members of the general public). Care workers, because of the roles they have chosen are expected to maintain an enhanced duty of care based on their specialist skills and knowledge.

When acting in a person’s best interests the care home must do so with their consent unless they have evidence that the person lacks capacity to make that particular decision, at the time it needs to be made. In these cases, processes in line with the Mental Capacity Act must be followed.

The Human Rights Act 1998

Just like everybody else, people living in care homes also have human rights. The Human Rights Act is a really important piece of legislation because it sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that everyone in the UK is entitled to.

Particularly relevant at the moment is Article 8 of the Act. Article 8 recognises and legally protects each individual’s right to a family life, including the right to live with their family and where this is not possible the right to regular contact with them. It also covers wider aspects of an individual’s private life, such as wider relationships (friends and partners) and participating in community life. It is not what is called an ‘absolute’ right, which cannot be interfered with any situation. Article 8 can be interfered with (breached) but only if the organisation breaching it can show that it is absolutely necessary and proportionate to do so. For example, if a care home doesn’t have an outbreak of COVID-19 but is banning all visiting or not considering the individual needs of people in order to facilitate appropriate contact, they may not be meeting their duties under the Human Rights Act, and you should consider raising it as a concern.