Basic home care help 'breaching human rights'

[dutchman]

Basic care for the elderly in their own homes in England is so bad it breaches human rights at times, an inquiry says.

The home care review by the Equality and Human Rights Commission highlighted cases of physical abuse, theft, neglect and disregard for privacy and dignity.

It said on many occasions support for tasks such as washing and dressing was "dehumanising" and left people "stripped of self-worth".

The findings have added weight to calls for a complete overhaul of the system.

Campaigners described the situation as "shameful", while councils, which are in charge of providing such services, said without urgent reform services would just get worse.

There are currently nearly 500,000 people who are getting council-funded support in their own homes.

The home care review said about half of people who had given evidence reported real satisfaction with care, but a number of common complaints were made by others. These included:

Older people not being given enough support to eat and drink, with some staff arguing health and safety restrictions prevented them preparing hot meals
Neglect because care workers stick rigidly to their tasks, such as a case when a woman was left stuck on the toilet because staff were too busy
Financial abuse, including money being systematically stolen over a period of time
Chronic disregard for privacy and dignity, such as leaving people unwashed and putting them to bed in the afternoon
Patronising behaviour, with cases highlighted including staff talking on mobile phones while they tended to clients
Physical abuse involving pushing and rough handling

The commission said such problems could be said to be in breach of various parts of the European Convention on Human Rights.