Lithuania

QualityRights – Lithuania

 In 2017, a National QualityRights Team was established in Lithuania in order to implement the  WHO EURO project on adults with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities living in institutions in the European Region. The team members have multidisciplinary competencies and years of experience of human rights advocacy in mental health and disability: Dr. Nijole Gostautaite Midttun, psychiatrist, director at NGO Mental Health Initiative; Dr. Ugne Grigaite, social worker, project manager, and researcher at NGO Mental Health Perspectives; Ms. Dovile Juodkaite, lawyer, former president of the Lithuanian Disability Forum; Ms. Karile Levickaite, psychologist, director at NGO Mental Health Perspectives.  Activities have been undertaken by the team with the endorsement of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania.

In addition to the assessment of facilities undertaken as part of the WHO EURO project using the WHO QualityRights toolkit and methodology, the national team received additional QualityRights training on mental health, disability, human rights and recovery in 2018-2019 and has subsequently been delivering this training to other key stakeholders in Lithuania. The QualityRights e-training has also been promoted and disseminated in the country to strengthen capacity among national actors.

Also in 2019, quality improvement interventions were implemented to address the gaps identified in the assessments.  The national team have developed interventions focused on the right to health, recovery, consent to treatment and around strategies for ending coercion, such as de-escalation. Feedback has been very positive with clinical staff and administration expressing, in particular, who found the training and the introduction of personal recovery planning based on people’s personal preferences very useful. 

Achievements at the national level:

• The national team advocated for and achieved that the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour and the Ministry of Health support the expansion of QualityRights activities for quality improvement in both social care and mental health services.
• The two ministries established the following initiative and confirmed the political commitment in the joint order signed by both ministers in 2023: Order on the Approval of the Procedure for Assessing, Monitoring, and Providing Methodological Support to Ensure that Services Provided by Mental Health Care and Social Care Institutions Comply with Human Rights Standards.
• Based on the jointly signed order, the QualityRights assessment Toolkit is now a formal tool for assessing compliance with human rights and quality standards in all mental health and social care services in Lithuania.
• The national team continue to promote the use of the WHO QualityRights training and guidance modules within the health and social care sectors.

QualityRights assessment reports:

WHO QualityRights Assessment – Lithuania

Scientific paper:

Promoting Human Rights-Based Deinstitutionalisation in Lithuania by Applying the World Health Organization’s QualityRights Assessments