Helpful resources

Below, you'll find a collection of practical tools and information to help with training for Dignity in care. These resources are free to use and will be regularly added to.

If you have a resource you would like added here, please email resources@scie.org.uk

• Resources for Dignity in CareOpen

  A dignified revolution

  • A dignified revolution website - campaigns for the improvement in the care of older people in hospital.

  Department of Health

  • Dignity in Care Network
  • DH Care networks resources (PDF file)
  • My year as National Dignity Ambassador by Michael Parkinson

  British Geriatrics Society, et al.

  • Advance care planning: Concise Guidance to Good Practice (PDF file)
  • Dignity Campaign

  Help the Aged (now Age UK)

  • The challenge of assessing dignity in care (PDF file)
  • Measuring dignity in care for older people (PDF file)

  Joseph Rowntree Foundation

  • Resources on supporting people in care homes at night

  NHS Scotland

  • Coping with dementia: a practical handbook for carers (PDF file)

  Nursing and Midwifery Council provide

  • Guidance for the care of older people
  • Information leaflet outlining what you can expect from nurses

  Royal College of Nursing

  • Delivering dignified care - a practice support pack for workshop facilitators (PDF file) - link to order form.
  • Dignity in health care for people with learning disabilities (PDF file)

  SCIE

  • At a glance 03: Nutritional care and older people
  • At a glance 16: Managing risk, minimising restraint
  • At a glance 20: Personalisation briefing: Implications for nursing homes
  • Dementia gateway
  • e-learning: An introduction to the mental health of older people
  • e-learning: Managing risk, minimising restraint
  • e-learning: Open dementia programme
  • e-learning: Personalisation
  • Knowledge review 13: Outcomes-focused services for older people
  • Guide 12: Making referrals to the POVA list
  • Guide 03: Assessing the mental health needs of older people
  • Guide 17: The participation of adult service users, including older people, in developing social care
  • Practice guide NICE/SCIE: Dementia: supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care (NICE clinical guide 42)
  • Report 25: Minimising the use of ‘restraint' in care homes: challenges, dilemmas and positive approaches
  • Research briefing 28: Assistive technology and older people
  • Social care TV - Minimising the use of restraint in care homes
  • Social care TV - Dementia
  • Social care TV - Personalisation
  • Social care TV - Safeguarding adults
  • Social care TV - Telecare

  Skills for Health

  • Competence application tools

Resources supporting individual Dignity Factors

• Choice and controlOpen

  The Picker Institute’s evaluation of 'experience’ rather than satisfaction surveys includes attention to the issue of autonomy. Link: Picker Institute: Survey information

  Now I feel tall (DH, 2005b) offers practice examples on 'having information to make choices, to feel confident and to feel in control’. Link: Now I feel tall (522kb PDF file).

  Older People’s Advocacy Alliance (OPAAL) UK is an organisation which promotes the development of independent advocacy services for older people. Link: OPAAL's development plan for advocacy services to the English regions.

  Independence, Choice and Risk: a guide to best practice in supported decision making offers a range of resources and case studies relevant to anyone involved in helping vulnerable adults to take decisions, make choices, manage risks and support independence. The resource includes a Supported Decision tool. Link: Independence, Choice and Risk: a guide to best practice in supported decision making

  SCIE

  • Social Care TV - Emily’s safety
  • Social Care TV - Minimising the use of restraint in care homes
  • Social Care TV - Personalisation for older people - Living at home
  • Social Care TV - Personalisation for older people - Supported living

• CommunicationOpen

  Ealing Hospital

  • About Me! My Hospital Passport (PDF file)
  • The Hospital Communication Book: Part 1 (PDF file)
  • The Hospital Communication Book: Part 2 (PDF file)
  • Welcome to Ealing Hospital (PDF file)

  Sense

  Sense, a national charity for people who are deafblind, has produced some materials for the relatives and support workers of older people with hearing and sight loss:

  • Seeing Me, a guide for people working in residential and domiciliary care for older people
  • The Good Life, for people with older relatives who don’t see and hear well
  • Fill in the Gaps, for older people’s teams in social services.

  Not on their way out (DVD) - People from Hertfordshire give their views on communication in the Customer Care section of the DVD. Supporting material is available in the Discussion Points document.

  SCIE

  • Dementia Gateway - Getting to know the person with dementia
  • e-learning - Communication skills

• Eating and nutritional careOpen

  Age Concern

  • Hungry to be heard (PDF file)
  • Seven steps
  • Age Concern and the Royal College of Nursing have developed a free resource pack for hospital staff‚ older patients‚ relatives‚ friends and volunteers to help promote good nutrition‚ enable more people to assist at mealtimes‚ and encourage patient involvement and feedback.
  • Age Concern have also produced some comedic videos to support the campaign for better nutritional care.

   Alzheimer’s Society

  • Yesterday, today, tomorrow
  • Food for thought

  Anglian Water

  • Health on Tap

  BBC

  • Drinking club improves health

  British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN)

  • Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) (PDF file) - BAPEN's 'MUST' - Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool - for use in hospital, care and community is now available as an App for the iPhone
  • Nutrition screening survey report (PDF file)
  • Combating Malnutrition - Recommendations for Action (PDF file)
  • Nutritional Screening Survey in the UK 2008 (PDF file)
  • GNASH report - executive summary (PDF file)
  • Improving nutritional care and treatment Perspectives and Recommendations from Population Groups, Patients and Carers - executive summary (PDF file).
  • BAPEN have published a toolkit for commissioners and providers on meeting quality standards in nutritional care.

  British Dietetic Association

  • British Dietetic Association

  British Nutrition Foundation

  • Nutrition through life: older adults

   British Society for Disability and Oral Health

  • Guidelines for oral health care for long stay patients and residents (PDF file)

  Cabinet Office

  • Food matters

  Caroline Walker Trust

  • Caroline Walker Trust
  • Eating well for dementia (PDF file)

  Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection

  • Living well in later life (PDF file)

  Council of Europe

  • 10 Key Characteristics of good nutritional care in hospitals (PDF file)

  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

  • Best practice in sustainable public-sector food procurement (PDF file)
  • Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (PDF file)

  Department of Health (DH)

  • Improving nutritional care
  • Nutrition Action Plan
  • Public Health White Paper

  European Nutrition for Health Alliance

  • Malnutrition among older people in the community: Policy recommendations for change (PDF file)

  Food Standards Agency

  • General guidance on healthy diet
  • Food Standards Agency
  • Guidance for caterers
  • Food served to older people in residential care
  • Nutrient and food-based guidelines for UK institutions
  • Menus for care homes
  • Guidance on food served to adults in major institutions
  • Body Mass Index calculator
  • Nutrient and food-based guidelines for UK institutions
  • Eat well, be well: Drinks

  Foundation of Nursing Studies

  • Improving the health choices for older people

  Hospital Caterers Association

  • Hospital Caterers Association
  • Protected mealtime policy

  National Association of Care Catering

  • National Association of Care Catering

  NHS

  • Better Hospital Food
  • NHS Standards for Better Health
  • 10 key characteristics of nutritional care fact sheets

  NHS Core Learning Unit

  • NHS Core Learning Unit

  National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

  • Nutrition support in adults
  • Malnourished or at risk of malnutrition guidelines (PDF file)
  • Nutrition support in adults guidelines (PDF file)

  National Nurses Nutrition Group

  • National Nurses Nutrition Group

  National Patient Safety Agency

  • National Patient Safety Agency
  • Nutrition fact sheets

  Queen Margaret University College

  • Recipe for life: Helping older people who live alone to eat well (PDF file)

  Royal College of Nursing

  • Nutrition Now

  Royal Society for Public Health (formerly the Royal Institute of Public Health)

  • Royal Society for Public Health

  Skills for Care

  • Knowledge set for nutrition and well-being (PDF file)

  SCIE

  • Nutrition on Social Care TV
  • Eating well for people with dementia (part of SCIE's Dementia gateway).

  United Kingdom Home Care Association

  • Nutrition resource guide and training programme

  Vegetarian for Life Limited

  • Information and advice on how to support older vegetarians

  Water UK

  • Water for healthy ageing

• Pain managementOpen

  Department of Health

  • Essence of Care
  • The Assessment of Pain in Older People, National Guidelines for Clinical Management (PDF)

  Help the Aged (now Age UK)

  • Pain in older people Reflections and experiences from an older person’s perspective (PDF file)

  Joseph Rowntree Foundation

  • Responding to the pain of people with a learning disability and dementia (PDF file)

  NHS Choices

  • End of life care: pain relief

  The Royal College of Physicians

  • Concise guidance to good practice, assessment of pain in older people (PDF file)

• Personal hygieneOpen

  Department of Health

  'Now I feel tall' (DH, 2005b) offers practice examples on 'getting good treatment in a comfortable, caring and safe environment, delivered in a calm and reassuring way’. Link: 'Now I feel tall' (522kb PDF file)

  SCIE

  • Dementia Gateway - Difficult situations

• Practical assistanceOpen

  Volunteering England works to support and increase the quality, quantity, impact and accessibility of volunteering throughout England.

  PRSSU (2009) National Evaluation of Partnerships for Older People Projects - Final Report (PDF file)

  Henwood, M.and Hudson,B (2008). Lost to the System? The Impact of Fair Access to Care, Commission for Social Care Inspection (PDF file)

  Thornton.A.,Hatton.C., Malone.C., Fryer.T. Walker.D, Cunningham.J and Durrani.N., (2003) Distraction burglary amongst older adults and ethnic minority communities, Home Office (2003)

• PrivacyOpen

  Confidentiality policies: many organisations have developed policies that spell out how staff deal with aspects of privacy that involve confidentiality. See example provided by Southampton City PCT. Link: Southampton City PCT (91kb PDF file).

  The Foundation of Nursing Studies

  • Maintaining privacy and dignity of patients admitted to a district general hospital NHS trust (PDF file)

  British Geriatrics Society

  • Dignity Behind Closed Doors Campaign

• Social inclusionOpen

  Digital Unite

  Digital Unite specialises in 'socialising IT' - making it relevant to anyone and everyone, but particularly those people who might otherwise get left behind in our increasingly digital world. DU has trainers all over the UK and a rolling trainer recruitment and continuous professional development programme. All DU trainers must be mature, experienced, empathic - this means they are usually also in the older age-groups. DU works a great deal within social housing where clients include residential social landlords, community groups, charities, local authorities and national organisations. The DU brochure outlines how it has helped older people feel more socially included. Link: Digital Unite website

  SCIE

  Dementia Gateway - Keeping active and occupied

Resources supporting Stand up for Dignity

• ComplaintsOpen

  The charity Counsel and Care has produced a factsheet that offers a comprehensive guide to complaining about health and social services. Complaining about community care and NHS services in England (334kb PDF file)

  Social services and NHS complaints are now dealt with under the same single set of regulations - the Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations 2009

  The Department of Health has issued new regulations on complaints procedures for adult social services. The new procedures can be found at  Learning from Complaints

  Find your local council at Direct Gov.

  Age UK (formerly Age Concern and Help the Aged) may be able to help. Call its free information line: 0800 009966

  The NHSComplaintsProcedure/NHSComplaintsProcedureArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4087428&chk=WoVmTf" title="Link to external website" target="_blank">Independent Complaints Advocacy Services (ICAS) 'supports patients and their carers wishing to pursue a complaint about their NHS treatment or care'.

  All health trusts have a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), which can help explain complaints procedures.

  Local Involvement Networks has been established to improve patient and public involvement in health and social care.

  Patient Opinion is a website that allows patients to feed back and share information on their hospital experiences.

  Judicial review - You can find more information about judicial review at the Public Law Project, which 'aims to improve access to public law remedies for those whose access is restricted by poverty, discrimination or other similar barriers'.

  Regulatory bodies

  Each organisation is monitored by a regulatory body. (Note: Day services and personal assistants funded through Direct Payments or Personal Budgets are Unregulated).

  The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates directly provided health and social care services. These are categorised in 28 service types

  Personal assistants paid for through direct payments and personalised budgets and day services are unregulated.

  For an overview of the CQC regulatory model 

  A new registration system is being introduced gradually from April 2010. Until all services are registered under the new system (by October 2010), existing National Minimum Standards will apply. Find a quick guide to the new system.

  CQC also participates, with other key bodies, in the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). The CAA assesses how well public services are working together to meet the needs of local people. CAA gives the public an annual snapshot of quality of life in their area.

  The Tenant Services Authority is the regulator for social housing

  Complaints are handled by the Housing Ombudsman Service

  The Local Government Ombudsman investigates complaints about how councils have carried out their business. This is a free and impartial service. The Ombudsman will usually only take up a complaint if the local authority's complaints procedure has failed to resolve the matter. However, the Ombudsman can make exceptions to this policy, for example if the situation needs to be resolved urgently.

  The Audit Commission 'is an independent body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively, to achieve high-quality local services for the public'. Its remit covers a number of local public services, including social services and housing.

  The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigates 'complaints about unfair or improper actions or poor service by UK government departments and their agencies, and the NHS in England'.

  Professional bodies

  Many professionals, including doctors, nurses and social workers, are required to register with a professional body. These organisations aim to protect the public by setting and maintaining standards within the professions, by publishing codes of conduct, registering individuals and monitoring continuous professional development. Serious misconduct by an individual can be reported to these bodies.

  • The General Medical Council - register all doctors
  • The Nursing and Midwifery Council - register nurses and midwives
  • The General Social Care Council - registers social workers
  • The General Dental Council - registers dentists, dental nurses, dental technicians and orthodontic therapists
  • The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain - registers pharmacists and their premises
  • The Committee on Standards in Public Life monitors the standards of people working in public office, including councils

• LegislationOpen

  Human Rights

  • A guide to the Human Rights Act 1998 (PDF file), 3rd ed, produced by the Department of Constitutional Affairs (precursor of the Ministry for Justice)
  • Liberty guide to the Human Rights Act
  • British Institute of Human Rights Your human rights: a guide for older people (PDF file)

  Discrimination law

  • ‘Discrimination law handbook’, Camilla Palmer et al, Legal Action Group, 2007
  • ‘Age discrimination handbook’, Declan O’Dempsey et al, Legal Action Group, 2006

  Community Care

  • ‘Community care and the law’, Luke Clements and Pauline Thompson, Legal Action Group, 2007
  • ‘Using the law in social work’, Robert Johns, Learning Matters, 2007

• WhistleblowingOpen

  CQC guidance on Whistleblowing in regulated care service (Word 209kb)

  Public Concern at Work (PCaW) - an independent organisation that offers support to whistleblowers. Suite 306 16 Baldwin Gardens London EC1N 7RJ Tel: 020 7404 6609 Email: email@pcaw.co.uk Website: www.pcaw.co.uk/

  Whistleblowing for a healthy practice gives guidance for GPs.
  Health and Safety Executive: whistleblowing on health and safety issues:

  Example of a whistleblowing policy from Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (75kb PDF file).

  See the latest on whistleblowing on Social Care Online.
  For further guidance go to DirectGov - Protection of whistleblowers

  The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development offers information for employers.

Resources supporting Specialist care

• People at the end of their lifeOpen

  Department of Health

  • End of Life strategy

  Directgov

  • Information on advance decisions to refuse treatment

  General Medical Council

  • Guidance for General Practitioners on End of Life Care

  Housing 21

  • End of life care learning resource pack (PDF file)

  Mencap

  • Laflet on carer support for people with learning disabilities and a life limiting illness (PDF file)

  My Home Life

  • A step by step guide: the rout to success in end of life care (PDF file)

  National Council for Palliative Care

  • National end of life care programme Building on firm foundations: improving end of life care in care homes: examples of innovative practice (PDF file)
  • National Council for Palliative Care website

  NHS

  • A Framework of National Occupational Standards to support common core competences and principles for health and social care workers working with adults at the end of life
  • NHS Choices End of Life Care
  • Planning your future care: a guide (PDF file)

• People with mental health issuesOpen

  Resources for tackling stigma and discrimination

  • SHIFT is an initiative to tackle stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health issues in England. For more information visit the SHIFT website

  Resources for improving dignity within older people’s mental health care:

  • SCIE's e-learning resources on mental health
  • National Mental health development Unit - Everybody's business website

  Resources for tackling stigma and discrimination

  • The SHIFT website
  • Moving People

  Resources for improving dignity within older people’s mental health care:

  • SCIE's e-learning resources on the mental health of older people.
  • Older people’s mental health programme key documents - Let's Respect
  • Department of Health, National Dementia Strategy - The first ever national dementia strategy was launched in August 2007 to tackle shortcomings in dementia services. The strategy is aimed at patients, carers, professionals and wider society.
  • SCIE Guide 3: Assessing the mental health needs of older people

  Resources for improving dignity within acute inpatient care:

  • Onwards and Upwards handbook (PDF file): Sustaining service improvement in acute care
  • Virtual Ward website
  • Positive Outlook toolkit: positive discharge practice toolkit
  • Star Wards initiative: improving the therapeutic environment in inpatient settings
  • Positive Steps: Supporting race equality in mental healthcare - James Wiltshire Trust’s Community Engagement Project - extending rights to advocacy

  Resources for dignity in mental health care

  • Legislation relevant to offering dignified services within Mental Health
  • Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy Service from April 2007

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