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Elder Abuse

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point and, interestingly, that will be one of the characteristics and key components of the new prevalence study. We estimate, as he knows, that approximately two third of people in nursing care have dementia, so one of the challenges of the prevalence study is to consider how to empower, enable and protect people in those circumstances. Older people who have different conditions and circumstances pose a separate challenge. I shall address the hon. Gentleman's specific comments about extension of the Human Rights Act 1998, which I must be clear about. When that Act was introduced, Parliament's and Government's intention was that publicly funded residents of private residential and nursing homes, as well as those in publicly provided residential and nursing care, should be covered. Subsequently, a House of Lords ruling put that in a lot of doubt. Therefore, the Government will seek to amend the Health and Social Care Bill to ensure that we reinstate Parliament's original intention, which was that the Human Rights Act should cover publicly funded residents of private establishments. To deal directly with the hon. Gentleman's comment, the 1998 Act is about the relationship between the state and the citizen. It is, therefore, entirely inappropriate to talk about extending the Human Rights Act to include people who fund their own care. However, more significant safeguards to protect self-funders are needed. The hon. Gentleman will know that the transformation programme for adult social care begins today in every local authority area and that one of the new emphases is a responsibility to self-funders. Too often in local authority areas, self-funders are told that they are on their own. One of the key elements of the transformation programme is the provision of much higher-quality information and advice to self-funders and their families, and a much greater focus on the needs of all citizens—not just those who are publicly funded—who use social care. The Human Rights Act is not the mechanism to deal with people who are funding their own care because it is about the relationship between the state and the citizen. The hon. Gentleman referred to our announcement last week that we will act to help people who fund their own care. At the moment, if those people have a complaint against a care provider, their complaint is considered only by the organisation that they are complaining against and there is no right of independent appeal beyond that process. We will introduce proposals to help such people, but we are not in a position yet to share the details with the hon. Gentleman. However, the proposals will ensure that self- funders who are dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint have the right to seek a review by an independent organisation. Following discussion and negotiation, we need to decide which is the most appropriate and expert organisation to fulfil that role.