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Alone we can do so little; together we achieve so much! NEWS UPDATE: APRIL 2009 Welcome to the April news update. As ever, we have much information and news to report and we welcome your comments, suggestions and enquiries. If you have any information that you would like to share with others please let us know and we will be happy to circulate it in the next newsletter Join the mailing list If you are reading a copy of this email forwarded to you by a colleague we may not have your contact details. If you would like to guarantee a regular monthly copy of the mailing send your details to info@dignifiedrevolution.org.uk If you would like to access previous copies of our news updates click here A Dignified Revolution, Britannia House, FORTHCOMING EVENTS Monday 22 June, RNIB Cymru, Cardiff Tuesday, 23 June, 2009, Talardy Hotel, St Asaph The workshop is focused on fine tuning communication and listening skills to enrich relationships between patients/clients, relatives and carers and colleagues. If you would like further information and to book on-line please click on the link above or email info@dignifiedrevolution.org.uk (Please note that the May date publicised in the last newsletter is fully booked) You can help us to challenge behaviour that diminishes dignity We have been asked to develop a training course to help people to challenge care that is provided without respect and does not meet the needs of patients. In order to inform the content, we want to hold a forum to gain input from people who have wanted to challenge inappropriate behaviour, but did not feel able to do so. Examples, could range from feeling unable to give simple feedback to complex scenarios that involve poor group culture and perhaps bullying. You will have the opportunity to work through positive ways in which you can challenge inappropriate behaviour. We understand that people might feel concerned about taking part because of the sensitive nature of the issue that is being discussed – we will, therefore, ensure that confidentiality is maintained. It is being held in IN THE NEWS THIS MONTH There have been a number of media reports over the last month, which have drawn attention to inappropriate care/abuse of vulnerable hospital patients. The Mid Staffordshire report by the Healthcare Commission highlighted significant shortfalls in care, which had been brought to the public’s attention by the efforts of a campaign group called Cure the NHS This was closely followed by the announcement that Margaret Haywood, a nurse who secretly filmed for the BBC to reveal the neglect of elderly patients at the Margaret is not the only nurse to suffer the consequences of her actions whilst trying to protect patients from inappropriate care/abuse As others have pointed out, and many others are probably thinking, why is it that nurses who are acting in the best interests of patients are dismissed. Aren’t they the ones that we should be congratulating and supporting to improve NHS care? And, more importantly, what action is being taken to remove those whose care is less than acceptable? This decision, delivered by the NMC, has done little to encourage others to speak out about their concerns in respect of patient care, and the consequences are all too evident with what has been uncovered in the Mid Staffordshire Trust. It has also done little to restore the NMC’s reputation, following last years report by the Commission for Health Regulatory Excellence It is time that regulatory and inspection bodies took stock of the situation. They need to listen, hear and act on what the public and professionals are saying. These are the people who are experiencing the inadequacies of the NHS, to their cost. The general public and professionals have the opportunity to support Margaret Haywood. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has been supporting her and feels that The NMC decision was unduly harsh, and in response, has set up an online petition. Please show your support and sign it now. You could also protest to the Commission for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence that has overarching responsibility for medical regulation. The email is harry.cayton@chre.org.uk and rachel.desouza@chre.org.uk And, you could write to your MP/Assembly Member. This link will help you identify and write to them We have received a number of emails through our network which show support for Margaret . A few are provided below "Thank you for the opportunity to support Margaret Haywood in a positive way. The Hospital is in my home town and I have been appalled for years both as a patient and a relative / friend of patients. Thanks to Margaret things have changed, slightly, How could they not?" “Hats off to Margaret and at what a cost. I have used the Whistleblowing policy to highlight disgusting practise and was suspended for doing so whilst the nurses remained in situ. With the latest on "I have signed and forwarded to every nurse I know! "Am totally in favour. Have signed and circulated it to my network" SUGGESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC A member of the public has suggested that the consultant/doctor could see patients who are mobile in an office or consultation room on the ward to discuss their treatment and care, rather than at the bedside with only curtains for privacy GOOD NEWS CORNER Response to Facebook Dialogue We have received correspondence regarding the concerns about inappropriate Facebook dialogue, which was featured in last month’s update. "I have just read your news update - it is absolutely brilliant, and wonderful to see the face-book issue included. I eventually took advice from CSCI and it was passed to our local branch. The staff are now required to attend a disciplinary hearing, including the manager - who passed all the paperwork on to the main culprit to read and caused an almighty back-lash for my friend who found it" It is good to see that appropriate action has been taken to protect not only residents but also staff who are brave enough to speak out on behalf of vulnerable older people Our correspondent also sent us details of her website. It is certainly worth a visit as it is written by someone whose loved one had Alzheimers Dignity in Care Award Congratulations to Home Instead Senior Care who have been awarded the Dignity in Care Award for the northwest region CAUSE FOR CONCERN We have been contacted by an ex-enrolled nurse who currently owns and manages a Domiciliary Care Agency in the West of England. The service provides social care mainly to older people. She draws attention, once again, to the poor hospital care that she regularly sees shown to her clients. She gives an example of how a client was discharged after 10 days in hospital. His hair had not been combed or washed, his dentures had not been cleaned neither had his nails and feet. The issue that caused the greatest anguish, however, was the that their client returned home with a sacral pressure sore. A pressure sore used to be regarded as neglect but, sadly, these days it seems to be the accepted "norm". Despite meeting with the Director of Nursing, of the Trust involved, who gave assurances that major changes & improvements would be made, nothing has changed over the past two and a half years. This account is sadly, not unique. We receive regular accounts of older people being returned to care homes and into the community in a worse state than when they were admitted to hospital. ACTIVITY Meetings m We attended the recent Welsh Assembly Government Dignity in Care Social Care Sub-Group meeting m On 30 March we visited a group of retired nurses in Presentations We gave a presentation at the: m Age Concern North Wales Central m Conwy Health and Social Care Network meeting which was held at Colwyn Bay Cricket Club. It was a great opportunity to network with other local organisations in the area In partnership with Healthcare Alliances we recently facilitated workshops at the Monmouthshire Conference - the Big Dignity Conversation. The aim of the day was to draw members of the local community and organisations together to develop a Dignity Manifesto for Monmouthshire, which could be used to ensure a standard of care in all settings that would meet the expectations of the local community. The highlight of the morning, and a presentation to set the scene, was made by Amanda Waring, the actress who produced the DVD We have been invited to the following events m to facilitate a workshop at the Age Concern Elder Abuse Project annual conference, which is being held on 12 June 2009 in m to speak at a conference entitled Raising awareness We have contacted Mature Times to find out if we could raise awareness through its publication Data analysis One of our supporters has collated all the responses that we received from the Daily Mail article that we had published in December 2008. We will be analysing this and compiling a report which will be circulated it in the near future Mid Staffordshire We have been contacted by: m Cure the NHS, the group campaigning about hospital care in Mid Staffordshire m a senior member of staff at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. She was interested in finding out about any initiatives that might be helpful to the support staff. We directed her to a number of initiatives and provided contact details A Dignified Revolution is supporting the petition that has been launched by the Patient Supporters We have been contacted by the Maelor over 50s Forum. They are keen to circulate the Gandhi quote around wards when carrying out their sweet trolley round. We are very grateful to them and many others who provide support by helping to raise awareness of dignity in care RESOURCES Safeguarding older people information resource Safeguarding older people offers practical solutions, not just for those people who are categorised as being Nothing decided about us, without us Speaking Up for Our Age is a unique programme run by Help the Aged that works with older people, to give them a collective voice to campaign on the issues that affect them. Forums give older people a platform to take a more prominent role in their communities by campaigning and voicing their concerns on the matters that they want to tackle with local authorities or public groups such as the Royal Mail or bus companies. For more information on the Speaking Up for Our Age programme, contact Kathy Lye on 02920 346550 SUFOAWales@helptheaged.org.uk Respect your elders The Nursing and Midwifery Council has issued new guidance to support nurses, the elderly and their families in gaining appropriate care. Download the guidance from the NMC website Paying for care We have received two documents that are helpful in enabling people to understanding care funding issues. Cheselden a continuing care funding specialists have provided us with an article, which can be downloaded from our documents page. We have also been made aware of a document entitled paying for care homes fees. This can also be downloaded from the documents page of our website Charging for residential care: 2009 uprating of certain disregards and allowances, and other changes Where a local authority places a person in residential care it is required to carry out a financial assessment of the individual and charge them such sums as they are assessed as being able to pay. Changes to the residential charging regulations come into force from 6 April 2009. This guidance outlines the changes being made and outlines the various charges Charges for residential accommodation This local authority circular announces the main changes to the residential charging arrangements and provides clarification of certain policies, in particular with regard to self-funding care home residents Independent carers blog The independent carers blog is being run by the founders of the National Carers Forum, a truly independent message board that is run by a carer and ex-carer, combined they have many years experience of caring issues NHS Exposed NHS Exposed is a publication designed to feature a aspects of the health service. It does not degrade the excellent work done by the many good doctors and staff of the NHS. It aims to expose those who breach the rights of individuals, protecting the individual with the power of publicity. By raising awareness and maintaining Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, the right to freedom of expression, it hopes to improve the NHS in whatever small way it can Healthcare Commission highlights "appalling" emergency care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust The Healthcare Commission has published an investigation report criticising Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust for significant failings in emergency healthcare, leadership and management. The Commission launched its investigation at the trust in March 2008 in response to concerns from local people and when it became clear that the trust stood out statistically in terms of the high death rates of patients admitted as emergencies. Cure the NHS is a campaign that was launched after witnessing 8 weeks of elderly care in a Mid Staffordshire hospital. Regulating healthcare - experience and lessons The Healthcare Commission ceased to exist at the end of March 2009 and a new, integrated regulator of health, mental health and adult social took over on 1 April 2009 - the Care Quality Commission. This report looks at the lessons that have been learned from the work of the Healthcare Commission over the last five years. Its objective is to inform the continuing debate about the place and role of regulation as it relates to health and healthcare in Funding adult social care in This King Individual budgets benefit carers Individual Budgets can greatly improve carers Listening, learning, working together? This report describes the findings from a study of how healthcare organisations in Online nutrition and dignity guide update This revised guide draws on the latest evidence base and practice in this area. SCIE have also produced "Nutritional care at a glance" for those with limited time available Guide launched to help improve customer care in NHS The Department of Health has published a guide to help health and social care staff improve the way they respond to people who are unhappy about the service they have received. Called, Listening, Responding, Improving: A guide to better customer care, the guide is part of new approach to dealing with complaints A new complaints procedure for health and social care In April 2009 a new two-stage complaints process for health and social care replaced the existing system. This briefing outlines the key points of the new process and its implications Abuse of people with dementia by family carers This research was carried out determine the prevalence of abusive behaviours by family carers of people with dementia Improving the Patient Experience of Inpatient Care Due to increasing interest in the patient experience when in hospital, IHI has been seeking to understand the primary and secondary drivers of creating the exceptional experience. The technical brief, findings and the evidence have been assembled and can be downloaded from here NEWS Gwynedd Council shows dignity and respect to all A Dignity and Respect charter has been launched by Gwynedd and Adult protection monitoring report published The Care and Social 80% of us are prejudiced against older people Data collected from The cost of hospital visits the Patients Association has launched a national survey which is asking patients visitors and staff about the issues that often get ignored but are as important in ensuring a modern patient-centred service. The questions cover a hospital visit from when the patient or visitor leaves home until their return and include such controversial topics as parking, cleanliness, and food The Channel 4 Dispatches programme NHS staff "feeling overstretched" Nearly half of NHS employees feel overstretched and undervalued, a Healthcare Commission survey has found. The study showed that 47% of staff felt there were not enough staff to "do the job properly" and 31% felt undervalued - an improvement on the figure in 2007 of 36%. The study, which included responses from 160,000 workers at all 390 trusts, also showed that 35% of staff had witnessed an incident that "could have hurt staff or patients" in the month before the survey Culture of targets prevents nurses from tending to patients Claire Rayner writes about the changes in the NHS and how the target culture has led to "a dreadful waste of professional time and extra layers of management" She makes the point that "patients cannot be treated like widgets on a production line. Human beings are not all the same. They have different needs. They need recognition, treatment, care and dignity" Doctors NHS staff ,and in particular doctors, must do more to tackle bad care, according to the head of the new health regulatory body. But doctors Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, said: "If we had a few more whistle-blowers in the NHS we might avoid scandals like that at Mid-Staffordshire hospital where staff kept quiet as the body count rose." Debate on Mid Calls for an emergency debate to learn lessons from the hospital where 400 patients may have died due to poor care have been rejected by the House of Commons My tears at An inquiry into the Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals Trust is due to report back to the government. A damning report by the NHS watchdog the Healthcare Commission has already said patients died due to the "appalling" state of emergency care at Inquest hears nurse An inquest into the deaths of 10 patients at a Hampshire hospital has heard from a senior nurse who said she raised concerns about how painkillers, such as diamorphine, were being prescribed at the hospital. Inquests are being held at Portsmouth Coroner An article, entitled liberty, equality and dignity, featured in a recent Health Older stroke victims Researchers claim that older stroke victims are getting a raw deal from the age discrimination that dominates the Health Care system denying cash for dementia sufferers Trusting families are being forced to leave their loved ones in the hands of unqualified staff in many Care of the elderly is a professional job. Assisting medication, feeding, changing, bathing, even using hoists demands a level of expertise we expect in the care of some of our most vulnerable people. But when Panorama went undercover in some of Britain I wouldn "It is extremely distressing seeing someone you love disappear before your eyes. Dementia is often regarded as an embarrassing condition that should be hushed up and not spoken about. But I feel passionately that more needs to be done to raise awareness" Kevin Whateley talks about his experience of his mother Learning disabilities services criticised by health ombudsman Learning disabilities services have come under serious criticism in an independent report by the health service ombudsman. The report, entitled Six Lives shows that on many occasions basic policy and guidance were not observed, the needs of people with learning disabilities were not accommodated and services were unco-ordinated Drugs to slow Alzheimer New drugs that can dramatically slow down the advance of Alzheimer Up to 11 medicines, which scientists hope could dramatically improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, are now in late stage clinical trials and should be reporting results in 12 months to three years. The drugs are a new departure because they aim to actually prevent Alzheimer Events Multi-agency/multi-professional Discharge Planning Wednesday 20 May 2009 Legal Issues Workshop Optic Technium, St Asaph For more information email iain.roberts@nliah.wales.nhs.uk Bringing Dementia Out of the Shadows Wednesday 10 June 2009 Paragon Hotel, For more information email dan@wassr.org Elder Abuse: Influencing Policy, Practice & Raising Awareness Conference Thursday & Friday 11&12 June 2009 St. David’s Park Hotel, Ewloe, Flintshire, For more information tel: 029 2043 1555 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day - 15 June 2009 World Elder Abuse Day is now appoaching its 4th year and Action on Elder Abuse want to make it an important date in everyone’s diary. For more information email worldelderabuseday@elderabuse.org.uk or call 0208 765 7000. Action on Elder Abuse has launched a series of exciting challenge events, including skydiving, trekking and running. If you Dignity is more than just a word Tuesday 23 June, 2009, St Asaph One day workshops designed to focus on fine tuning communication and listening skills to enrich relationships between clients, relatives carers and with colleagues For a programme and booking form please click on the link above or email info@dignifiedrevolution.org.uk Dementia 14-16 September 2009 For more information email jemma.galbraith@stir.ac.uk THE FUNDING OF A DIGNIFIED REVOLUTION The common experience of how close relatives, whilst in hospital, had not been treated with respect and, as a result, lost their dignity led a group of individuals to establish A Dignified Revolution in January 2008. A Dignified Revolution aims to ensure that older people are cared for with dignity and respect in hospital. We do this by raising awareness of dignity and respect issues to health professionals and to the general public If you would like to help, we would like your time most of all. However, some cash would also be useful. £15 covers the cost of a person attending an awareness day; £30 covers the cost of printing and posting 100 leaflets; £100 covers the cost of one trip between North and Donations will help us to continue our work – so please give generously if you think our cause is worthwhile. Not a penny will be spent on administration or overheads – we don’t have any! Cheques should be made payable to A Dignified Revolution. We want to remain focussed on our goal of helping older people retain their dignity whilst in hospital. In order to avoid being diverted onto other issues and priorities, we do not seek statutory sector funding (although unsolicited grants will be accepted). So your support is important and will help to make a difference. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the following people for giving their time and expertise to help develop resources to support A Dignified Revolution: Martin Rathfelder, Socialist Health Association Lance Webster – for the design of our logo An individual (who wants to remain anonymous) for producing our leaflet The Welsh Language Board – for the translation of our leaflet An individual (who wants to remain anonymous) for producing the bilingual leaflet Howard Hunt Group, An individual who has collated and analysed data Ridler Webster for printing copies of our leaflet Claire Davis, Solicitor, Cwmbran We are also grateful to the many people who provide support by passing our newsletter and other resources, which helps o develop the network and raise greater awareness of dignified care CONTACT DETAILS A Dignified Revolution Britannia House, Tel: 07811 159800 Fax: 01446 774864 Email: info@dignifiedrevolution.org.uk Website: www.dignifiedrevolution.org.uk |
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