Report on the Human Rights Act and its implications for older people

Citation

(2001), "Report on the Human Rights Act and its implications for older people", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 14 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2001.06214fab.010

Report on the Human Rights Act and its implications for older people

Report on the Human Rights Act and its implications for older people

The support group Help the Aged has launched a report outlining the terms of the Human Rights Act, and its implications both for older people themselves and for public bodies responsible for providing services to them. Essentially, the Act, which came into force in October 2000, will prohibit discrimination in accessing rights. While individuals have hitherto been able to challenge the decision-making processes of local authorities, health authorities and others through judicial review, they have never before been able to challenge the legality of the decisions themselves.

In September 2000, Help the Aged hosted a lecture given by Murray Hunt, a practising barrister and member of Matrix, and chaired by Sarah Spencer, Director of the Citizenship and Governance programme at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Those attending included older people's forums, carers' groups, advocacy organisations, major voluntary organisations, service providers, academics and lawyers. The lecture aimed to help organisations championing the rights of older people to understand the implications of the Act and how they might be able to use it in future. It raised issues that participants had come across in their work with older people in which they felt that the Act might have a role to play. These included:

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  the transfer of care homes to the private sector and impact on care home residents;

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  rights of employees in abuse cases;

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  assessment of mental incapacity;

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  cost ceilings on care packages;

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  tenants' rights;

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  private pensions;

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  the right to have cultural needs met;

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  burden of proof when there is degrading treatment; and

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  costs related to health care.

The report is a result of the conference findings and is written in straightforward language in order to make the Act as accessible as possible to users. The report has been disseminated widely amongst older people and older people groups as a tool with which to facilitate using the Act.

Tessa Harding, Head of Policy at Help the Aged, said:

The Human Rights Act is an important turning point for older people. Not only does it establish the key rights of individuals – to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, to private and family life and so on; it also prohibits discrimination in accessing these rights. It establishes the rights of all citizens, including older citizens. We expect older people and their advocates to use the Act to ensure greater fairness and equality in our society.

Help the Aged will continue to monitor the Act to see how it can be used to support older people's rights to protection and equal treatment by public authorities.

Copies of the report are available from Jenny Havis, Communications Division, Help the Aged, 207-221 Pentonville Rd, London N1 9UZ. Please state the name of the publication when ordering.

Further information from Rachel Harford. Tel: (+44) (0) 20 7239 1943.