Care at home: elderly urged to 'reclaim human rights' An initial run of 6,000 copies of the booklet is being distributed through local Age UK groups and home-care agencies. In addition to a straightforward explanation of how the care system works, it includes detailed instructions on how to complain and advises people of the option of bringing legal action. Details both of private lawsuits against councils or care agencies and the complex judicial review process involving the High Court are set out. "If the council or home care agency has acted unlawfully, you may want to consider bringing legal action," the guide explains, adding that this should be a last resort and warning about the potential costs. It goes on to offer a checklist of situations in which poor care is being provided ranging from full-scale abuse and neglect to everyday examples of thoughtless or patronising treatment. "Your care worker cannot make you wear items of clothing you do not like or would not normally wear," it explains. Your care worker cannot make you wear slippers on a shopping trip just because it is easier for them to put them on instead of outdoor shoes. It singles the importance of clothing and food with cultural or religious significance for people, advising that care workers should be careful to ensure people are able to wear turbans or veils as well as crosses if they wish. Even well-meaning intervention, such as stopping someone going out for fear of a fall, could be illegal while thoughtlessly denying people basic privacy such as when they are getting dressed can be all too common. Gary Fitzgerald, chief Executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said: "These are the things which can be degrading. We concentrate on the obvious signs of abuse - the marks the broken bones - but sometimes forget that the little things that take away who you are can be even more degrading. Wendy Hewitt, Deputy General Counsel at the EHRC, said: "Human rights are intended protect us from suffering any invasion of privacy, indignity or abuse, in our homes as much as anywhere else."