Human Rights in Healthcare: Empowering NHS Staff and Patients

1. Main titleSubheading Human rights in healthcare

2. Overview • What are human rights and why are they relevant for the NHS? • The Human Rights in Healthcare project

3. What do human rights mean to you?

4. Human rights are… • “ basic rights to humane dignified treatment and things I should have access to simply because I am a human being” • Mental health service user “ a set of recognisable principles on which Trusts can base their everyday work” - Legal Advisor, NHS Trust

5. Universal Declaration of Human Rights National Health Service 1948

6. NHS Constitution and Human Rights • Guiding principle 1: • ‘The NHS … has a duty to each and every individual that it serves and must respect their human rights.’

7. Why are human rights important for the NHS? • Provides a framework of common values • A practical tool to improve policies, procedures and practice • Inspires, enthuses and empowers staff and service users – applies to everyone • Supports other healthcare targets and drivers e.g. NHS Constitution • It’s the law!

8. Human rights…. • Belong to everyone • Cannot be taken away – only limited or restricted • Are about the relationship between the state and the individual • Are basic standards below which the state must not go, and sometimes also actively protect and fulfil • Are based on a set of common values, including fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy

9. Core human rights values • Dignity – everyone is important, valuable, worthy of respect • Equality – no-one is more important than anyone else: people should be treated in the same way and given the same chances

10. Human Rights Act 1998 • Brings most of the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law • Contains 15 basic rights • Public bodies mustrespect Convention rights in all that they do • Everyone in the UK can rely on the protection of the HRA • Not just about the law!

11. Some key rights in the workplace • Right to a fair trial (Article 6) – staff disciplinary and grievance procedures, employment tribunals, compensation claims • Right to respect for family, private life, home and correspondence (Article 8) – privacy and confidentiality, access to personal information, monitoring communications, harassment and bullying, working conditions • Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 9) – dress codes, religious practices

12. Some key rights in the workplace (continued) • Right to freedom of expression (Article 10) – whistle-blowing, workplace discussions • Right to freedom of assembly and association (Article 11)– trade union membership, membership of political parties • Right not to be discriminated against (Article 14)

13. A human rights vision of equality Equality is a key human rights principle and a fundamental human right A more holistic approach – focus on the person Protects against universally bad treatment Protects against other forms of ill-treatment Non-exhaustive grounds for discrimination Provides a framework for balancing rights

14. Human rights in action • A Doctor was suspended from employment pending investigation of a serious complaint by a female patient. The Trust refused to allow him legal representation at his disciplinary hearing. He argued in court that the denial of legal representation was a breach of his right to a fair trial. The courts found that he was contractually entitled to be represented at his disciplinary hearing by a lawyer. They said that the right to a fair trial was engaged where an NHS doctor faces charges that could lead to him or her being barred from employment in the NHS. • Kulkarni v Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2009)

15. Human rights in action A learning disabled couple lived in a residential centre so their parenting skills could be assessed. CCTV cameras were installed, including in their bedroom. Social workers explained that the cameras were to observe them and for the protection of their baby. The couple were distressed by use of cameras in their bedroom during the night. They invoked their right to respect for family life. As a result, the cameras were switched off at night so that the couple could enjoy their evenings together in privacy.

16. Human rights in action • www.ourhumanrightsstories.org.uk

17. Main titleSubheading The Human Rights in Healthcare project

18. Human Rights in Healthcare Project • Overall aim: to support the use of human rights based approaches in improving health and social care • Partnership project with the Department of Health, BIHR, ROI Operations and 5 pilot NHS Trusts • Running since 2006 – now in its third ‘phase’

19. Key project outputs • Human Rights in Healthcare – a framework for local action • Human Rights in Healthcare – a short introduction • Series of national learning events • Evaluation by Ipsos Mori • Trust pilot projects

20. Spotlight on Mersey Care NHS Trust • ‘Putting human rights at the heart of care’ • Specialist mental health and learning disability services • Trust-wide human rights strategy and action plan • Human rights training programme for all staff • Service user involvement – appointment of Trust staff, decision-making, research and evaluation • Service users are provided with training, support and paid £12/hour + travel

21. Pilot projects • Southwark Health and Social Care – developing a human rights based commissioning framework • Birmingham tPCT – human rights and end of life care • Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust – service user involvement • Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – human rights, leadership and emotional labour

22. Learning to date • A human rights approach has positive benefits for both service users and staff • Human rights engages, motives and inspires staff, in particular through training • Buy-in at a senior level within Trusts is critical to success • Resourcing can be a challenge, but is not insurmountable

23. NHS Employers • What can NHS Employers do to ensure that human rights are better respected and protected within the NHS?

24. “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.” • Eleanor Roosevelt