Unit 3 P4 Health And Social Care Essay
D1-Explore the impact and effects that the Human Rights Act had has had on anti-discriminatory practice in health and social care environments in general as well as specifically in your work placements
“Quite simply we cannot hope to improve people 's health and wellbeing if we are not ensuring that their human rights are respected. Human rights are not just about avoiding getting it wrong, they are an opportunity to make real improvements to people 's lives.” Rosie Winterton, Minister of State for Health Services (Equality and Human Rights, 2007)
The Human Rights Act places all public authorities in the UK under a duty to respect the rights it contains in everything that they do. The term ‘public authority’ includes the police and governments, …show more content…
organisations providing a function of a public nature, and the NHS and social services- which are the areas in which we will be exploring within this piece of work.
As health and social care environments are all covered under the Human Rights Act this therefore means that the authorities providing these health services are not only under a duty to not breach any human rights but to also take the necessary proactive steps in order to ensure that these human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
The rights within the act which are relevant to a health and social care context would include the right to life; the right not to be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way; the right to respect for private and family life; the right not to be discriminated against and the right to freedom of expression and thought, including through methods of religion.
While some human rights are known as absolute rights, meaning they can never be limited or restricted no matter what the circumstances, most do however contain a degree of limitation (non-absolute rights); that under certain conditions the interference of an individual’s human rights may be lawful to protect the rights of others or the wider community.
Although these rights are relevant to anyone receiving health care services the values of the rights are unfortunately not always reflected in the care provided; the service users are said to have been abused as their rights become breached.
Below is a case study which highlights how two elderly patients have been abused within a health and social care context:
A husband and wife had lived together for over 65 years. He was unable to walk unaided and relied on his wife to help him move around. She was blind and used her husband as her eyes. They were separated after he fell ill and was moved into a residential care home.
She asked to come with him, but was told by the local authority that she did not fit the criteria. Speaking to the media, she said: ‘We have never been separated in all our years and for it to happen now, when we need each other so much, is so upsetting. I am lost without him – we were a partnership.’ A public campaign launched by the family, supported by the media and various human rights experts and older people’s organisations, argued that the local authority had breached the couple’s right to respect for family life. The authority agreed to reverse its decision and offered the wife a subsidised place so that she could join her husband in the care home.
Source: BIHR (2008) The Human Rights Act – Changing lives, 2nd edition
By separating the couple into separate care homes this was clearly a breach to their right to respect for family life. All too often the Human Rights Act is associated with only large technical legal arguments or perceived to be limited to certain types of issues. However this case study illustrates how groups of ordinary people themselves are able to use the human rights law to challenge poor treatment and negotiate improvements to the services being
provided.
If the family from the case study had not been aware of their available human rights the couple may not have been able to make their voices heard and would have remained unhappily separated.
Giving people the power to use human rights as a check against the state in this way is precisely what was envisaged when Parliament passed the Human Rights Act, and shows how the act has been successful in its application.
However the success of the act can often be restricted by the numerous practical barriers which may discourage people from using their human rights. There is a large lack of information available for people and those that are working with them about human rights; this leads to widespread negative perceptions and misunderstandings surrounding the Human Rights Act amongst communities. These misunderstandings about human rights cause people to lack the confidence to access justice and make complaints. Others may just feel that they shouldn’t complain as their probably just ‘making a fuss’ or are worried about the consequences they may face as a result.
There may be communication barriers in the way of forming a complaint. Those who speak a different language or perhaps do not have good literacy skills may find it hard to follow the process of the complaints mechanisms. People who have disabilities or illnesses such as dementia may be unable to form the complaint themselves and face limited access to legal aid providers; barriers may make it seem ‘not worth the effort’ and put people off.
The Human Rights Act means that the service providers in the health and social care sector are under the obligation to treat everybody in a way that reflects their rights independent of their specific needs. Health providers are also expected to proactively and strategically integrate human rights throughout the delivery and design of services, policies and practice, as well as addressing individual human rights cases.
In conclusion I believe that the Human Rights Act has greatly benefited and began to improve the delivery of public services, making positive changes to people in their everyday lives. I think that more people need to be encourage and empowered to use the Human Rights Act in an effort to keep promoting a culture of human rights based on dignity, respect, equality, autonomy and fairness.
Bibliography:
http://www.bihr.org.uk/policy/the-human-rights-act www.ageuk.co.uk BIHR- older people and human rights, the reference guide
Word Count:
1047
“Quite simply we cannot hope to improve people 's health and wellbeing if we are not ensuring that their human rights are respected. Human rights are not just about avoiding getting it wrong, they are an opportunity to make real improvements to people 's lives.” Rosie Winterton, Minister of State for Health Services (Equality and Human Rights, 2007)
The Human Rights Act places all public authorities in the UK under a duty to respect the rights it contains in everything that they do. The term ‘public authority’ includes the police and governments, …show more content…
organisations providing a function of a public nature, and the NHS and social services- which are the areas in which we will be exploring within this piece of work.
As health and social care environments are all covered under the Human Rights Act this therefore means that the authorities providing these health services are not only under a duty to not breach any human rights but to also take the necessary proactive steps in order to ensure that these human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
The rights within the act which are relevant to a health and social care context would include the right to life; the right not to be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way; the right to respect for private and family life; the right not to be discriminated against and the right to freedom of expression and thought, including through methods of religion.
While some human rights are known as absolute rights, meaning they can never be limited or restricted no matter what the circumstances, most do however contain a degree of limitation (non-absolute rights); that under certain conditions the interference of an individual’s human rights may be lawful to protect the rights of others or the wider community.
Although these rights are relevant to anyone receiving health care services the values of the rights are unfortunately not always reflected in the care provided; the service users are said to have been abused as their rights become breached.
Below is a case study which highlights how two elderly patients have been abused within a health and social care context:
A husband and wife had lived together for over 65 years. He was unable to walk unaided and relied on his wife to help him move around. She was blind and used her husband as her eyes. They were separated after he fell ill and was moved into a residential care home.
She asked to come with him, but was told by the local authority that she did not fit the criteria. Speaking to the media, she said: ‘We have never been separated in all our years and for it to happen now, when we need each other so much, is so upsetting. I am lost without him – we were a partnership.’ A public campaign launched by the family, supported by the media and various human rights experts and older people’s organisations, argued that the local authority had breached the couple’s right to respect for family life. The authority agreed to reverse its decision and offered the wife a subsidised place so that she could join her husband in the care home.
Source: BIHR (2008) The Human Rights Act – Changing lives, 2nd edition
By separating the couple into separate care homes this was clearly a breach to their right to respect for family life. All too often the Human Rights Act is associated with only large technical legal arguments or perceived to be limited to certain types of issues. However this case study illustrates how groups of ordinary people themselves are able to use the human rights law to challenge poor treatment and negotiate improvements to the services being
provided.
If the family from the case study had not been aware of their available human rights the couple may not have been able to make their voices heard and would have remained unhappily separated.
Giving people the power to use human rights as a check against the state in this way is precisely what was envisaged when Parliament passed the Human Rights Act, and shows how the act has been successful in its application.
However the success of the act can often be restricted by the numerous practical barriers which may discourage people from using their human rights. There is a large lack of information available for people and those that are working with them about human rights; this leads to widespread negative perceptions and misunderstandings surrounding the Human Rights Act amongst communities. These misunderstandings about human rights cause people to lack the confidence to access justice and make complaints. Others may just feel that they shouldn’t complain as their probably just ‘making a fuss’ or are worried about the consequences they may face as a result.
There may be communication barriers in the way of forming a complaint. Those who speak a different language or perhaps do not have good literacy skills may find it hard to follow the process of the complaints mechanisms. People who have disabilities or illnesses such as dementia may be unable to form the complaint themselves and face limited access to legal aid providers; barriers may make it seem ‘not worth the effort’ and put people off.
The Human Rights Act means that the service providers in the health and social care sector are under the obligation to treat everybody in a way that reflects their rights independent of their specific needs. Health providers are also expected to proactively and strategically integrate human rights throughout the delivery and design of services, policies and practice, as well as addressing individual human rights cases.
In conclusion I believe that the Human Rights Act has greatly benefited and began to improve the delivery of public services, making positive changes to people in their everyday lives. I think that more people need to be encourage and empowered to use the Human Rights Act in an effort to keep promoting a culture of human rights based on dignity, respect, equality, autonomy and fairness.
Bibliography:
http://www.bihr.org.uk/policy/the-human-rights-act www.ageuk.co.uk BIHR- older people and human rights, the reference guide
Word Count:
1047