Care home loophole a shameful anomaly - Burstow

11.32.32am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 19th Jun 2006

MPs and others were brought face to face today with some of the human rights abuses suffered by older people in residential care. At a parliamentary seminar, organised by the Relatives & Residents Association and hosted by Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam, they heard moving stories about how the human rights of care home residents are frequently ignored by the very people employed to protect them.

A high-powered audience of lawyers, human rights organisations, MPs, care home providers, relatives and others listened to accounts of how very elderly men and women had been left to fend for themselves, went unfed and unwashed, were sometimes physically abused and, even though suffering from advanced dementia, were not given the protection, security and safety that they had been promised. Many were too frightened to complain and where they did, their complaints often went unheard and unrecorded.

Particularly vulnerable, the audience was told, are care home residents who pay for their own care. ' Self-funders' do not have the protection of their council's social services complaints procedures and because they are not funded, or provided for, by a 'public authority', they cannot seek redress for any breach of their human rights under the Human Rights Act. A 10 minute rule bill introduced in Parliament this session by Paul Burstow seeks to address this anomaly.

Paul Burstow MP said

"Once an older or disabled person crosses the threshold of a private care home, the Human Rights Act does not apply. 9 out of 10 care homes are operated by private organisations, and through a loophole in existing legislation, care homes have shamefully become places where human rights can lawfully be denied.

Chair of R&RA, Judy Downey said

"Older people in residential care are an invisible minority. It seems to be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. Older people in residential care need the protection of the Human Rights Act just as much as anyone else - if not more. They are frail and vulnerable and all too often open to exploitation.

Chief Executive of the Residents & Relatives Association, Gillian Dalley added:

"Who is going to protect the frail 95 year old lady with dementia when she is left lying unwashed in bed, unable to feed herself and shouted at by a care assistant for being 'naughty'?

"Any person whose dignity and safety is jeopardised should have the right of protection under the law. The fact that he or she is paying for herself and living in an independently operated home should make no difference - but as far as the Human Rights Act is concerned - it does."