SCIE Practice guide 09: Dignity in care

Quick links

This section offers quick access to the practice examples, tools and resources within the guide, to give to those with limited time the opportunity access materials to support service improvement with regard to dignity.

Little things that make a big difference

• Maintaining dignity despite incontinence, with an enuresis pad
• Life Story books at the Evergreen Unit
• On arriving in hospital: help with orientation, procedures and where to turn for help
• Designating single-sex bay areas
• Do not disturb signs
• Getting the message across: posters as reminders of good ways to communicate
• Red Tray system
• Volunteers and Mealtimes project (United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust)
• Hospital Book (Barnet Learning Disabilities Service)

Time well spent

• Betty’s story: regaining independence
• Raising the bar on cleanliness and hygiene on the ward
• Palliative care support through Macmillan and a dedicated local council team
• A system of goal and treatment planning piloted in Oldham
• 'If only the experience could be different’: working on redesign with service users
• Constructive criticism using electronic feedback
• In Touch: identifying new solutions in the face of cutbacks
• Identifying areas for improvement - learning from patients
• Escorts providing reassurance and relieving pressure on ward staff
• Success with a DVD diary: Jane’s story (Isle of Wight Advocacy Trust)
• Filming the family: Tracy’s story (Isle of Wight Advocacy Trust)

Training and educational initiatives and support tools

• Help the Aged Sunshine Project
• Putting therapeutic skills to work
• Using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)
• Drama as a powerful clinical tool - fun with a purpose
• Champions programme
• Anti-ageism training course
• Tapping into knowledge and experience with the Older People’s Consultation checklist
• Learning reminiscence skills
• Behind closed doors: the Geriatric Society’s leaflet on toilet privacy
• A matron’s action plan to improve dignity and privacy on the ward
• 'Lets' Respect’ resource box
• A nutrition support pack
• IT to assist socialising with Digital Unite
• The educational workbook from the Dignity and Older Europeans study (PDF file)
• The journey to the interface: how public service design can connect users to reform (PDF file) is a booklet containing many case studies of good practice examples, from the think tank Demos.
• The Alzheimer’s Society training pack, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, includes a 90-minute video/DVD and 130-page training manual providing eight training sessions:
  1. The experience of people with dementia
  2. What is dementia?
  3. The need for good communication
  4. Life in the home: 1 Values and attitudes; 2 Activities of everyday life
     See Social inclusion
  5. Life in the home: 3 Supporting eating, drinking and personal care
     See Hygiene and Mealtimes
  6. Building and maintaining relationships
  7. Understanding behaviour we find difficult
  8. Working together to make quality dementia care
• The 10 Essential Shared Capabilities were developed by the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) and the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health joint workforce support unit, in conjunction with the NHS University. They describe the underpinning values and principles that should be evident in the delivery of services for people with mental health problems and are the framework for the whole of the mental health workforce. The 10 Essential Shared Capabilities are:
  1. working in partnership
  2. respecting diversity
  3. practising ethically
  4. challenging equality
  5. promoting recovery
  6. identifying people’s needs and strengths
  7. providing service user-centred care
  8. making a difference
  9. promoting safety and positive risk-taking
  10. personal development and learning.
• Now I feel tall: what a patient-led NHS feels like (522kb PDF file)
  This document is for chief executives, directors and all staff who deliver the National Health Service. It aims to make the NHS more aware of the importance of improving patients’ emotional experience and the relevance of this to creating a patient-led NHS.
• Patient Catering Survey (University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Trust)
• Dignity and Respect Training Project (John Coupland Hospital, Lincolnshire Teaching Primary Care Trust)
• Improving first impressions (Stockport NHS Foundation Trust)

Audit tools

• Addenbrooke’s Essence of Care audit summary
• West of Cornwall PCT patient satisfaction baseline audit
• Dorset and Somerset SHA privacy and dignity audit tool

Sample policies

• Developing a privacy and dignity policy
• Protected mealtimes framework from the Hospital Caterers Association
• A sample whistleblowing policy (75kb PDF file)
• A sample confidentiality policy

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