A national campaign to place dignity and respect at the heart of caring for older people, backed by a ?67 million grant to improve the environment of care homes across the country was unveiled today by Health Minister, Ivan Lewis.
Mr Lewis was at a conference in London to start a national debate on how we can tackle the need to put dignity at the heart of caring for older people.
Speaking at the launch of the first ever national dignity in care campaign, Care Services Minister, Ivan Lewis said:
“The generation which built this country has a right to expect excellence in the support and care they receive.
“Older people deserve a care system where there is zero tolerance of abuse and disrespect.
“By working with those on the frontline, I want to put dignity and respect at the heart of services for older people.
“Today, the Government is committing itself to providing leadership, but dignity and respect is a shared challenge and responsiblity with those who provide and commission services.”
The campaign designed to raise the profile of respecting people’s dignity when receiving care services will feature:
– ?67 million for local authorities to improve the physical environment of care for older people, help older people living in care homes to do so with dignity; and enable care homes to be more responsive to the needs of older residents.
– The Dignity Challenge – a 10 point plan that lays out the national expectations of what constitutes a service that respects dignity;
– A new network of local champions of dignity – an army of volunteers working to raise the profile of dignity in care locally;
– The Dignity in Care Practice Guide designed to help support people, front-line workers, practitioners, managers, commissioners as well as older people themselves and their carers to take up the Dignity Challenge;
– a review of national policies including:
– safeguarding vulnerable adults;
– complaints reforms;
– training and registration of the workforce
– improving the care environment.
– On 8 November the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act received Royal Assent. The Act lays the foundation for a new vetting and barring scheme which will be phased in from Autumn 2008.
Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said:
“We warmly welcome the Government’s announcement – dignified and respectful treatment has to be at the centre of all care for older people.
“The Government is right – too often older people’s rights and feelings are trampled on because of other priorities. We hope this campaign brings to an end undignified and uncaring services that older people have too often had to endure.
“The human rights and the needs of every individuals need to be put at the centre of their care. We urge all care commissioners and providers to fully embrace providing services that put older people at the heart of their priorities.”
Paul Cann, Director of Policy at Help the Aged said:
“Dignity and respect for the individual ought to be at the heart of the way we care for older people, but all too often services fall short of achieving this.
We hope that by launching this campaign, and signalling new leadership in this area the Government will be able to drive change in the way older people are treated – making dignity and respect absolutely central to all care services.
“Ultimately this is about more than practice and procedure – it’s about how individuals relate to each other.
“We hope that the Government will see this as much more than a short-term initiative – we are looking for a long-term commitment to changing not just care practice, but the whole culture of our care services so that individual older people receive the respect and dignity they deserve.”