JCHR and EHRiC Evidence - People working in health and care

The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) is currently holding an inquiry into the UK Government’s response to Covid-19. This inquiry is looking at how people's human rights may have been affected.

The Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee (EHRiC) is also currently conducting a survey into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on equalities and human rights. If you are in Scotland we will use your responses in our submission to the EHRiC.

At BIHR we are gathering evidence for both inquiries from people and their families accessing care and support; advocacy and campaigning organisations and people working in health and care. This survey is for people working in health and care. The other two survey links can be found at the end if you would like to share these and help amplify more voices please do.

You can complete the questions below. All the questions are optional. All your answers are anonymous, we cannot trace these back to people.

Thank you for taking the time to help us ensure people working during this pandemic have their experiences heard.

Question Title

* 1. Which setting do you work in? Choose any/all which apply

Primary Care (for example GP practice)

Hospital setting

Community setting

Residential setting

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 2. Where do you work?

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

UK wide

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 3. What group of people do you support? Choose any/all which apply

Adults with physical disabilities and/or health care needs

Older people with physical disabilities and/or health care needs

Children with physical disabilities and/or health care needs

Adults with mental health needs

Older people with mental health needs

Children with mental health needs

Adults with learning disabilities and/or Autism

Older people with learning disabilities and/or Autism

Children with learning disabilities and/or Autism

People with experiences of abuse

Other (please specify)

ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES WORKING DURING COVID-19

Question Title

* 4. We have been made aware of lots of issues with care and support during Covid-19. *Please be aware that this question includes descriptions of distressing issues which you may not want to read. You do not have to answer this question if you do not want to.

Have you as a someone working in health and care experienced or been aware of any of the following during Covid-19? Please choose any/all which apply and tell us more if you feel able.

Pressure to put Do Not Resuscitate Orders in place without involving person in the decision

Being unable to protect the life of people you support due to lack of resources, cuts to services or decisions to prioritise other services

The loss of life of your colleagues due to lack of Personal Protective Equipment or other infection prevention measures

Inability to test for Covid-19 before admission to residential care leading to spread of infection and death of people and staff

Removal or change to care or support packages leading to situation where dignity cannot be upheld

Having to move or detain someone in an inappropriate place due to a shortage of beds or community support which has a severe impact on someone's mental and/or physical wellbeing

Preventing someone from leaving the place where they live without alternatives set up to maintain mental and/or physical wellbeing

Detaining someone on mental health or mental capacity grounds without assessment or without safeguards in place (e.g. opportunity for the person to challenge the decision)

Delays or cancellations to scheduled tribunal or court hearings to review care and support decisions

Not being supported to understand how different laws affecting your practice during Covid-19 have changed, for example Care Act changes.

Removal or changes to care and support without involving the individual this could include moving a person from one place to another

Someone being moved into a new place without support to maintain mental and/or physical wellbeing there

Restrictions in place which impact mental or physical wellbeing (for example no contact with family or not being able to exercise in ways you used to) without appropriate alternatives in place

Not being able to support someone (or a significant reduction of support) to observe their faith or beliefs

Not being able to support someone (or a significant reduction of support) to express and manifest their other beliefs, veganism for example.

Not being able to support someone (or a significant reduction of support) to continue to meet with groups important to them using alternatives to face to face meeting (e.g. online)

Children young people with SEND not being able to access education due to no or a significant reduction in support to enable safe access

Being aware of someone you support being unable to access welfare benefits/other entitlements to support daily living

Being aware of the loss of possessions or lack of access to items that have meaning to someone you support due to being moved to another place

Any other relevant issues that we have not included in all the options above that you would like to tell us about?

Question Title

* 5. Do you believe any of the above issues resulted in someone being treated worse than others because of a particular identity or characteristic they hold?

Yes

Can you tell us more?

Question Title

* 6. Have human rights in the area of care and support you work in been affected by Covid-19?

Yes- it has been harder to uphold human rights during Covid-19

Yes- it has been easier to uphold human rights during Covid-19

Nothing changed in the delivery of rights respecting care and support due to Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 7. Have you been aware of changes to visiting policies which impact the way people you support can be visited or can visit family members or people they care about during Covid-19?

Yes- visiting policies have changed but alternatives (such as video calls) were organised

Yes- visiting policies have changed but I'm not aware of alternatives being organised

No- This hasn't changed

This is not an issue in my role

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 8. Since the start of Covid-19 have you been able to involve the people you support in decision-making which affects them?

Yes- I was able to involve people in all decision-making. This hasn't changed due to Covid-19

Yes- I was able to involve people in decision-making but not as much as I could before Covid-19

Yes- I was able to involve people in decision-making even more so than before Covid-19

No- I was not able to involve people as much as I usually would in decision-making during Covid-19

No- I am never able to involve people in decision-making, even before Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 9. Since the start of Covid-19, when decisions have been made about someone's care and support did you feel able to explain why this decision was made and for how long it would last?

Yes- I kept people informed in the same way as I did before Covid-19

Yes- I tried to keep people informed but it was more difficult to offer this during Covid-19

Yes- I was able to keep people informed people even more so than before Covid-19

No- I am never able to keep people informed regardless of Covid-19

No- I have felt unable to keep people informed, this has only happened since Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 10. When a decision was made about someone's care or support during Covid-19 were you able to tell people how they could challenge that decision or raise a complaint?

Yes

Can you tell us more?

Question Title

* 11. Were you able to continue to meet your duties under the Equality Act during Covid-19? Meaning you were able to consider specific characteristics or needs when making decisions.

This could include (but is not limited to) considering any disabilities, mental health or capacity issues, race or ethnicity, age, gender or other characteristics or needs.

Yes- I was able to ensure there was no discrimination during Covid-19

No - I was not able to ensure there was no discrimination during Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 12. Since the start of Covid-19 have you been able to inform people about their human rights?

Yes- I informed people about their rights in the same way as before Covid-19

Yes- I informed people about their rights but this has been more difficult since Covid-19

Yes- I informed people about their rights and this has got easier since Covid-19

No- I did not inform people about their rights and I didn't do this before Covid-19

No- I did not inform people about their rights, this has only happened since Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 13. Do you feel able to raise a concern or challenge the body you work for about a decision/issue/policy etc that risks the human rights of people accessing care and support?

Yes- I feel confident, this hasn't been affected by Covid-19

Yes- But I feel less confident than I did before Covid-19

No- I don't feel able to, Covid-19 has made this worse

No- But this hasn't been affected by Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 14. Do you feel able to raise a concern or challenge the body you work for about your own human rights as a staff member?

Yes- I feel confident, this hasn't been affected by Covid-19

Yes- But I feel less confident than I did before Covid-19

No- I don't feel able to, Covid-19 has made this worse

No- but this hasn't been affected by Covid-19

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 15. Do you feel that during Covid-19 you as a staff member have been treated without discrimination by your employer?

Yes- I do not feel there have been are any discrimination issues for staff members

No- I feel I have been treated worse than others and think this might be discrimination

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 16. Since the start of Covid-19, were you provided with legal training or clear information about the use of Emergency Powers under the Coronavirus Act (CVA)?

Yes - we received training or clear information on the use of Emergency powers under the CVA internally

Yes - we received training or clear information on the use of Emergency powers under the CVA externally

Yes - we received training or clear information on the use of Emergency powers under the CVA delivered by BIHR

No- we did not receive training or clear information on the use of Emergency powers under the CVA

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 17. Since the start of Covid-19, were you provided with legal training or clear information about upholding Human Rights law?

Yes - we received training or clear information about human rights law internally

Yes - we received training or clear information about human rights law externally

Yes - we received training or clear information about human rights law delivered by BIHR

No- we did not receive training or clear information on human rights law

You can tell us more here, if you want to:

Question Title

* 18. Since the start of Covid-19 have you used human rights to create change in the lives of people you support, for example to get a decision or policy changed? You can share your story below - this may be helpful to include in the evidence to the JCHR:

Question Title

* 19. Last question. Is there anything you would like to tell us about your human rights or the human rights of people you support during Covid-19?

Thank you very much for completing our survey to help us understand how people's human rights are being affected during Covid-19.

We appreciate that those working in health and care are also people with families and people they care about receiving care and support. If you would like to complete or share our survey for people and families you can do so here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JCHR_People

If you would like to complete or share our survey for advocacy and campaigning groups you can do so here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JCHR_AandC

At BIHR we are committed to amplifying the voices of people working in health and care throughout this pandemic and beyond. Our Communities of Practice provide a platform for people to be heard on key human rights issues we work on which affect their life and work. This feeds into the evidence we submit to policy makers, inquiries and reviews. Click here to find out more and continue to be involved: https://www.bihr.org.uk/news/now-live-bihrs-communites-of-practice