Whether dealing with a long-term illness, recovering from an injury or living with a disability, the need for additional support comes with an increased reliance on others, inevitably impacting on a person’s independence.
Dignity in care provides a guide point to ensure that every aspect of care provision, no matter how big or small, or whether provided in a residential setting or in a person’s home, shows respect for the person receiving care and promotes and maintains their respect for themselves.
Why is dignity in care important?
We are all entitled to be treated with respect and dignity, whatever that means to us personally, and although care homes can undoubtedly be busy and demanding settings at times, this should never have an impact on the residents who live there.
Across the UK, care regulators such as the CQC in England and the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, embed dignity into the standards of care they seek from care providers. Dignity is also included in the Health and Social Care Act (2008), and regulators can take action if they find a provider to not be treating the people they care for with dignity and respect.
This means that many care homes have specific policies in place to ensure they are meeting these standards, helping to remind carers, as well as everybody who may be involved in care provision, how important it is to uphold a person’s dignity at every stage of their care journey. This ensures that each person receives the best support possible, where not only are their care needs met, but their overall wellbeing is also maintained.
Dignity in care achieves this by:
Establishing trust
Trusting the person providing your care is crucial. Without this, a person may feel uncomfortable and ultimately unwilling to accept the support they need.
When care providers demonstrate respect for the people they care for, for example, by listening to them, taking into account their preferences and showing an interest in them, it shows them that they are valued, helping to create trust and facilitating positive relationships.
Maximising independence
A key aspect of dignity in care is ensuring that a person is able to maintain a certain quality of life whilst also having their health and wellbeing needs met. Although quality of life will look different for each person, care providers should ensure that the people they support are given as much autonomy and control over their everyday lives as possible.
This can be a strange concept when it comes to residential care, but regardless of where it is delivered, care should complement a person’s life as opposed to being something that restricts it.
Care providers might maximise independence through simple things, such as asking a person what they’d like to wear if they need help getting dressed or what they’d like to eat for dinner that day.
This can also be achieved through more poignant aspects of care, such as ensuring a person feels able to choose when they need assistance or would prefer to do a task independently, regardless of the additional time it may take.
Promoting self-respect
After being diagnosed with an illness or condition or suffering an injury, it’s common for a person’s self-esteem to be negatively affected. The need to move to a care home, whether temporarily or permanently, can further exacerbate these negative thoughts.
Dignified care promotes self-respect by ensuring the person is recognised for who they are as a human being rather than just their care needs, reminding them of the value they bring to the people and the world around them.
For example, carers may ask questions about what a person does, or did, for a living or how they met their partner, or simply compliment them on the clothes or perfume they are wearing; normal interactions that we wouldn’t think twice about in everyday life.
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How do providers demonstrate dignity in care?
Care professionals strive for dignity to be at the heart of their practice and there are many things that they do to preserve and respect the dignity of the people they support.
Examples include:
- Personalising support services
- Addressing a person correctly, by their chosen name, title or pronouns, for example
- Listening to and respecting preferences in personal care
- Taking care of personal possessions
- Engaging in conversation
- Respecting confidentiality
This isn’t an exhaustive list, dignity in care can be small actions or larger gestures, but they will all be significant in how they make a person feel.
Eight factors of dignity in care
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) outlines eight factors of dignity in care to help guide care professionals in their practice. Each highlights a different element of care provision that provides an opportunity to protect and promote the dignity of the people they care for.
The eight factors of dignity in care are:
- Choice and control over care provision as well as everyday decisions
- Communication between care professionals, residents and their loved ones
- Nutrition for older people
- Pain management to promote comfort
- Personal hygiene
- Practical assistance such as minor home repairs or installing mobility aids
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Social inclusion to avoid isolation
Dignity Action Day
Celebrated on 1 February each year, Dignity Action Day was founded by Dignity in Care and is led by the National Dignity Council.
The day aims to promote the importance of upholding dignity and respect within the care sector, ensuring that people are “treated as individuals and are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.” It also serves as a reminder to the public that care professionals deserve respect too.
Jan Burns, chief executive of Dignity in Care, says:
“Dignity is more than deeds, more than an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It’s how you make a person feel. We will be pursuing this as a basis for asking people what they can do to bring dignity into their everyday practice, or indeed what they already do.”
Fremington Manor Care Home
To mark Dignity Action Day in 2024, Fremington Manor, a Care South setting located in Barnstaple, held a day full of activities for residents and staff where they were treated to a coffee morning, a pamper sessions and a ‘Dignity Lunch’ which was followed by ice creams with a host of sauces and sprinkles.
Later in the day, the residents were encouraged to share their thoughts on what dignity means to them, with each example being written onto a paper leaf hung on a decorative ‘Dignity Tree’.
‘Being able to be independent’ and ‘Knocking before entering my room’ were just a few of the suggestions made by the residents.
Examples suggested by the staff included, ‘Giving the respect you would want for yourself and your family’, ‘Making sure people feel respected and that they have given consent to care’ and ‘Making sure people are covered during care.’
Nelson Lima, Home Manager at Fremington Manor, said: “Our team really got behind Dignity Action Day as it’s a campaign that has a huge amount of synergy with the values we hold at the care home for the benefit of the residents in our care.
“Their health, happiness and wellbeing is the most important thing to us as we provide the highest quality of care and support to the residents and will always look to do this with the utmost respect and dignity.”
To find out more about Dignity Action Day and what you can do to support it, you can visit the website here.
Dignity in Care also runs the Dignity in Care Campaign which aims to put dignity and respect at the heart of UK care services.
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