A major campaign has been launched in Wales to ensure that people receiving care in homes or in the community are treated with the dignity they deserve.
Over the next few months guidelines will be published which will serve as a constant reminder to care providers of the importance of the issue not merely to the elderly but to other service-users.
The campaign is being run by Care Forum Wales which represents independent care providers and has its own Dignity Charter.
The scheme has the strong backing of the Welsh Government which places great emphasis on the matter and sponsors an annual award in the field.
About 100 people employed in the caring profession across North Wales, including home owners, agency bosses and carers, attended a workshop at Conwy Business Centre in Llandudno Junction to exchange their views and experiences and to listen to Jan Wood, the Forum’s National Workforce Development Advisor.
Ms Wood, from Caerwys, who has over 20 years’ experience in the sector covering young and old, said the purpose of the workshop was to learn from each other, raise awareness of potential issues and exchange examples of good practice.
It was the third gathering its kind in Wales, and later this year an information pack will be produced which will then be available to all affiliated organisations to assist with the training of staff.
Among those present was Clive Nadin, owner of Abbey Dale House in Princes Drive, Colwyn Bay, who is a member of the Board of Care Forum Wales.
He said he fully supported the thinking behind the campaign and appreciated the need to train staff to respect the dignity of individual residents.
“There is always a need to be reminded of how important it is to treat people with dignity, and although, as a rule, I think we do very well, there is always room for improvement,” he said.
“We have seen in the national press some very bad examples of what can be classified as a lack of dignity in NHS hospitals, and in the private care sector we are trying to bring to people’s attention what needs to be done and what dignity means,” he added.
Ann Bedford, manager of Plas Dyffryn and Caledonian care homes in Trearddur Bay, was equally enthusiastic.
She said she fully supported the thinking behind the campaign and appreciated the need to train staff to respect the dignity of individual residents.
“There is certainly a problem in this regard and the things being said at this workshop should have been in practice for some time,” she said.
Mrs Bedford conceded that there was a particular need to train young members of staff to pay due respect to the residents and to heed their wishes.
Ms Wood told the delegates that dignity meant different things to different people, and those present told of what they saw as factors which could be significant.
They ranged from allowing service-users to make their own choices and treating them as individuals to recognising their need for privacy, acknowledging their frustrations and communicating clearly.
“Before people start work in the field they often have preconceptions about old people and those can sometimes be hard to shift,” she said.
But it was equally important to show the same respect to younger service users who should not always be responded to or treated in the same way as the elderly, she stressed.
The low regard in which the caring profession was generally held and a lack of practical hands-on experience by some professionals were among the handicaps facing those working in the field, Ms Wood continued.
Ms Wood said the ethos behind the campaign could be summed up by the comment made by one man who said: “If you respect me I have my dignity.”
“It is very easy for staff to lose sight of the fact that they are dealing with individuals, and there is no doubt that a lot of what we are talking about should be happening automatically, but it is important that it is kept in the forefront of everyone’s minds,” she added.
Recent national stories about the treatment of the elderly in hospitals in England Wales, which have amounted to neglect of patients unable to help themselves to food or drink, have highlighted the need for action in many quarters, but Ms Wood was quick to point out that there were numerous examples of excellent practice in the independent sector, which was why the series of workshops was proving so constructive.
