Equality and Human Rights Commission respond to BtRS Action Plan

Following the recent publication of the Joint Committee of Human Rights report on Protecting Human Rights In Care Settings, we would like to also share a press release from the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding the Building the Right Support Action Plan.

On Wednesday 27^th July, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) outlined concerns identified with the Building the Right Support action plan that they will be raising with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Within this response, the EHRC have highlighted many of the same concerns as the CBF. These concerns include:

• People will be admitted to hospitals rated as inadequate
• The action plan has a lack of urgency regarding timescales
• There is a lack of clarity regarding how the plan will help discharge people, or analysis and learning from previous failures to meet targets and spending commitments throughout the action plan

EHRC’s Chief Executive Marciel Boo said:

“The DHSC’s plan to address these concerns has been delayed two years by Covid, and we are pleased it has finally been published. However, it does not go far enough and appears to suggest that some patients will still be placed in hospitals rated as inadequate.”

We share the concerns of the EHRC and welcome their plans to take action to help individuals and their families whose relatives remain in inappropriate inpatient units. You can read more from EHRC here. You can read the CBF’s response to the Action Plan here.

For more information and to review the full action plan please use the following links: 

Building the right support for people with a learning disability and autistic people – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Building the Right Support: an analysis of funding flows – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BTRS Evaluation: 

In November 2021 the BTRS Evaluation was released after being delayed for 2 years. It is not clear how the issues identified in the evaluation are addressed and reflected in this action plan. To read more about the BTRS evaluation please go to: BTRS Reports published – Challenging Behaviour Foundation.

If you are concerned by what you have read in this statement and/ or the action plan, please see here:

Support from the CBF

Resources on our website

Read the CBF’s information on ‘when things go wrong’

Family Support Service

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this statement, you can call the Family Support Service on 0300 666 0126

Or email us at support@thecbf.org.uk

We are open at the following times:

Monday – Thursday: 9am – 5pm 
Friday: 9am – 3pm

We offer information about challenging behaviour to anyone who provides support to a child, young person or adult with a severe learning disability. We can also signpost you to other specialist organisations and sources of information.

Please note we are a small support service so you may not be able to get support straight away. We will support families with urgent concerns as a priority.

Professionals are also welcome to contact the CBF.