Carers' Human Rights: Are They Invisible?

Submitted by tonyplant on August 1, 2006 - 10:06.

Carers UK is asking whether carers have human rights.  Carers UK report that

Carers, like everyone else in the UK, are entitled to rely on the protection of the Human Rights Act 1998, which should ensure that public bodies take account of their human rights when they provide services. Public services play a critical role in guaranteeing carers' human rights. They can ensure that carers have the support they need to maintain a normal life. The report we are publishing today shows that reality falls a long way short of this ideal.

 

Many carers are pushed to the brink of physical and mental collapse because of the lack of support they receive...

Why do carers seem to be the only group of people who are automatically exempt from the restrictions of the working time directive? Why are carers expected to work under conditions that are assessed as too much of a health and safety hazard for trained professionals? The Guardian offers several grim stories of overworked and exhausted carers that will be only too familiar to many people. In the light of today's news about tightening of eligibility criteria for care for elderly or disabled people, it seems as if relief will not arrive any time in the near future.

 

I remembered this post that I made in March because I've been invited to present a workshop for a large police force. The contact came about in an odd way. The police force are aware that many of their officers have stressed work-lives that have a tremendous impact on their home-lives (Dr. Crippen has a recent consultation about stress in the Special Branch that describes the situation and dilemmas that some officers face). They are running a family day and had been concentrating on childcare issues. They had several enquiries about events for people who are not caring for young children, but do have caring responsibilities for parents and older friends. Until they had these enquiries, the extent of caring, and the needs of carers were invisible. Why? We must know what the numbers are. We must have a rough idea of how many adults have some degree of caring responsibilities. Why is it so difficult to recall them when providing events and services?

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project

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