Social care system “needs human rights basis”

A fully inclusive social care system involving all service users
is impossible unless it is underpinned by a human rights framework,
the chairperson of the Social Care Institute for Excellence argued
last week.

Speaking at the launch conference of Shaping Our Lives, a
service user involvement project, Jane Campbell said that currently
service users were having their human rights breached on a daily
basis.

Campbell said that the practice of forcing older people into
care homes and discouraging disabled people from having intimate
relationships were two examples of people’s rights being
breached. A right to a family and a right to a private life would
be “enshrined in the service” if a human rights basis was adopted,
she said.

Meanwhile, two new research projects by Shaping Our Lives in
partnership with local service user groups have found that many
service users regard current user involvement practices as patchy
and tokenistic.

The findings reveal that service users do not feel respected by
service providers and that there is a lack of information on
services, especially direct payments.

– Our voice in our future and Shaping our lives from www.jrf.org.uk