Indicator 4(A): Is there a satisfactory national community living strategy?

Conclusion:
No. There is a national strategy, but it only relates to the transformation of 32 institutions for people with intellectual disabilities.

Explanation:

On 21 February 2007 the Czech government adopted a strategy entitled ‘The Concept of support of transformation in residential social care services to different kinds of services provided in the natural community and supporting the social inclusion of the user to society’.^[68] The Ministry of Labour and Social Care Services launched a 56 million EUR pilot project on deinstitutionalisation on the basis of this strategy, funded primarily by the European Union.^[69] The establishment of sheltered housing, workforce training, and assessment of service users’ needs are aspects of the project.^[70]

The aim of the project was to reduce the capacity of large institutions. However, as was noted in the recent Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, progress is slow,^[71] and the scope of the project is narrow. It only concerns a small number of homes for people with disabilities, and only relates to people with intellectual disabilities.

Kvalita v praxi dnes (Quality in Practice – ‘QUIP’), a national NGO, conducted an assessment of the transformation processes commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.^[72] The study focused on 95 residents who wished to leave social care institutions. The study showed that less than a third of these people, 31, were able to successfully leave institutions, and only a few went on to live in their own flats.^[73] The transformation process was hindered by the negative attitudes of guardians and by the lack of availability of community-based services in the preferred locality of residents. The report also noted that social care services failed to complement care provided by carers or families.

There has been no progress in relation to psychiatric institutions.^[74] The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently noted that the government had adopted a ‘Strategy for Reform of Psychiatric Care (2014-2020)’, but urged the Czech Republic to secure the right of people with mental health issues to independent living and inclusion in the community and to invest adequate resources to achieve this aim.^[75] Regional governments are now obliged to develop strategic plans for the development of social services.^[76] These plans usually include deinstitutionalisation and the development of community-based services as one of their aims,^[77] but there is little evidence available as to the implementation of these plans.