Despite the progress of society, some social groups are still likely to face discrimination of any kind. Care centres and their employees are obliged to comply with the provisions of the Equality Act and do their best to respect and protect your human rights. If you feel for any reason that the quality of the services that you enjoy is not good or is different for reasons related to your:
- Age
- Religion
- Ethnicity background
- Family status
- Sexual orientation
- Disease or disability
Have in your mind that it is not okay and feel free to talk about it and report it. Don’t tolerate anything less than the best type of care that is exactly what you deserve.
For the nursing homes, the law under the Regulations of The Health and Social Care Act gathers all the rules that centres have to comply with and explains what our loved ones are entitled to during their stay at the relevant centre. There are three pillars upon which the treatment must be based upon. In other words, these are what you need to ask for your loved ones and respectively what the care homes and their personnel need to offer:
Person orientated care
In other words, this means that the provided treatment has to be specially designed to cover the special needs of every resident; this can be a disease or specific daily nutrition needs. The care that the nursing home provides has to be the appropriate one; to cover the special needs of our loved ones and of course to reflect their preferences. Any action against the will of our loved ones is not accepted and not permitted. Unacceptable is as well any action or behaviour that makes them feel in any way uncomfortable or sad.
Dignity and respect
Any service or treatment has to be given concerning their personality, their special needs and reassuring that their independence, their dignity and their privacy are not put in danger of any kind. After undertaking the care of our loved ones it is the responsibility of every care home to take all the necessary measurements to protect all the aforesaid.
Consent
The key element is unquestionably consent. Our loved ones are the receivers of the treatment that is given to them; thus its content has to be known to them and to be informed about any kind of side effects that the treatment may bring to them. The receiver must provide his/her consent to the relevant treatment. Any action or omission against their consent constitutes a serious violation of the fundamental principle of self-determination.
Many times our people are not able for reasons connected to their mental or physical health to provide the centre with their consent. In situations like these, the family members or the relatives or any person that the treatment receiver has appointed as his/her custodian have to be informed by the centre with details regarding the content of the treatment and acting on behalf of them to give or not the necessary consent.
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