Elderly home care failures breach human rights, report finds

Elderly people are being robbed, left hungry and unwashed and face unchecked "ageism" from council-funded care that is meant to let them live in their own homes, a report has found.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission report into home care, which is commissioned by local authorities to help people dress, wash, eat and take medicines, said there was evidence of a "systematic failure" across the country and that elderly people's human rights were being breached.

The report which is partly based on the experiences of 1,200 older people, their friends and family, found examples of treatment that including cases of physical and financial abuse. Findings included carers neglecting tasks because councils paid for too little of their time. There was also a chronic disregard for older people's privacy and a disregard for clients' dignity when carrying out intimate tasks.

Full Article on Guardian

New toolkit launched to promote equality and fairness in the NHS

All parts of the NHS can now work out how fairly they treat patients and employees in a systematic and robust way following the launch today (10th November) of a new toolkit.

The Equality Delivery System (EDS) will support the NHS in delivering personal, fair and more diverse health services in the future.  It will help the NHS to ensure staff from all backgrounds can thrive, develop and deliver the best care possible. It will make the NHS more accountable to all the communities it serves, and give local people a greater say in how the NHS is run.

Full Press Release on Department of Health