National Pensioners Convention launches Dignity Code

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow has unveiled a new ‘code of conduct’ launched by the National Pensioners Convention.

It is hoped the Dignity Code will help to afeguard the dignity of the elderly and prevent abuse and neglect.

The new code has been warmly received by the care sector and was welcomed in Parliament with a consensus by Coalition and opposition ministers, despite the current gulf between the parties on Health and Social Care.

The Dignity Code is expected to be the first major step towards a code of conduct for carers that can be legally enforced, strengthening regulation and the ability of service users to secure sound care services.

Addressing fellow MPs on Wednesday evening, Burstow spoke of the need to ‘challenge institutional ageism in our health care system and our social care system’, by implementing ‘clear training standards for our health care assistants.’

The Code itself looks to define unacceptable care standards in order for older people to receive the respect they deserve. Behaviour deemed as unacceptable includes not respecting privacy, not consulting with the service user or performing care without their consent, using unnecessary restraint and speaking about an older person in their presence as if they were an object.

A successful care package must be judged to be self-determined, respectful of individual tastes and habits and adapted to their requirements, while giving the service user the right to complain without any fear of retribution.

The general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), Dot Gibson said, ‘Every week we are struck by another headline which reveals the neglect and ill treatment of older people either in their own home, a care home or hospital. This has got to stop. Much of what the Dignity Code calls for is to treat individuals as human beings, rather than as second-class citizens who have their wishes and feelings ignored and overlooked’.