Dignity and respect
All health and social care services and professionals should treat you and the person you care for with dignity and respect. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) who inspect all registered health and social care providers, regard dignity as a key area to be assessed.
You can ask to see a copy of a service’s last CQC inspection to see how well they performed.
The National Dignity in Care Campaign developed 10 ‘Dignity Do’s’ that providers should use to ensure they deliver high quality services that respect people’s dignity:
- Have a zero tolerance of all forms of abuse.
- Support people with the same respect you would want for yourself or a member of your family.
- Treat each person as an individual by offering a personalised service.
- Enable people to maintain the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control.
- Listen and support people to express their needs and wants.
- Respect people's rights to privacy.
- Ensure people feel able to complain without fear of retribution.
- Engage with family members and carers as care partners.
- Assist people to maintain confidence and a positive self-esteem.
- Act to alleviate people's loneliness and isolation.
If you feel you or the person you care for is not being treated with dignity and respect, it is important that you tell someone so the service can improve.
You can find out more about how to make comments and complaints in our making a complaint section.
Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust have ‘Core Care Standards' specifically aimed at carers and families.
