Beyond slogans

1
Beyond slogans
A new framework for assessing progress with
dignity in care
2

• Who are these older people?
• What are they telling us?
• Policy response?
• But what progress?
• Dignity principles
• A framework for assessing dignity
• So what?

3
Who are these older people (and why do they
matter to you)?

• Number of people who are currently state pension
  age
• Expected increase in number of people over 75
  over next 30 years
• Number of pensioners below the poverty line
• of NHS clients aged 65 and over
• Number of people suffering from dementia?
• Number of older people who have care needs?

4
What are they telling us?

• 76 of people think that care home residents tend
  to be forgotten by society
• 45 of people believe once you reach very old age
  you are treated as a child

A carer comes and they wont listen to youthey
will do it how they like to do itnot the way I
want the thing to be done.
They treat you as if you were nothing
I think what makes it so difficult for people to
carry on caring at home is that services are so
disjointed youre lost in a sea of people. You
dont know whos meant to be doing what.
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Policy response

• Not because they are old
• Essence of Care
• National Service Framework for Older People
• National Minimum Standards
• Standards for Better Health
• The Dignity Challenge

6
But what progress?
Daily Mail
Yorkshire Post
Runcorn Weekly News
The Daily Telegraph
7
Principles

• Dignity in context
• Treating people as individuals
• The whole person
• Equal power relationships
• Requires active promotion
• More than the sum of its parts

8
Framework to assess dignity
Aspects of care
Communication Privacy Autonomy / choice Food and
nutrition Social inclusion
Pain and symptom control Personal
hygiene Personal care End of life
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Exercise

• Are the indicators right?
• What questions could be asked to assess
  indicators?
• What is the best way of capturing this
  information?
• Do you currently assess dignity?
• Could these measures be used to inform
  commissioning decisions?

10
"Nothing about us without us"