Changes Ahoy! - A Fresh New Approach to Dignity in Care

From Friday 1st October 2010 the Dignity in Care Campaign website will be managed by SCIE.

There will be some key changes in the way that you communicate with the dignity campaign and SCIE. We are no longer able to man a dignity champions telephone line but the website is full of all the useful tools that you could need to be an active Dignity Champion.

If you wish to find out more about the campaign or sign up as a dignity champions or get in contact with other champions or networks, and you will still be able to do this on the website.

The email address to order badges for dignity champions who have registered via our website is dignityincare@scie.org.uk

If you have a good news story to share with other Dignity Champions please email it to dignityincare@scie.org.uk with as much detail as possible so that it can be added to the website. If you are having any difficulty with the website, please try again after a day and if it still isn't working, please email dignityincare@scie.org.uk with details of the problem.

The website should provide you with all the information and resources you need. If you did need to contact Department of Health, for instance if you should have a concern or complaint about care, then please contact the general enquiry line on 020 7210 4850 (Textphone (for deaf and hard of hearing): 020 7210 5025 Opening Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm )

The dignity cards, leaflets and posters will no longer be available in hard copy from the central team but they are now available to download in electronic copy from the website under the "useful resources for champions" section and if your organisation wanted to pay to have its own printed cards there are details of how to order these in bulk direct from the supplier.

Electronic newsletters will continue to be circulated, although postal ones, unfortunately, will not. We do anticipate that this need some personal adjustment initially. We will be circulating our final postal newsletter soon and this will include tips for postal champions on getting on line and registering as electronic dignity champions by visiting our website at www.dignityincare.org.uk, or using social or professional groups, and friends, relatives and colleagues to keep them ion touch with the campaign. Sadly, as with the telephone line and availability of free printed resources, the postal newsletter is simply too expensive to maintain as a resource in the current financial climate.

We are enormously proud of our dignity champions - there are now over 23,000 of you! - and we believe that you will continue to forge ahead with the task that you have started with the Dignity Challenge.

DH will continue to be a key partner in this campaign and will be working with a wide range of partner organisations including Age UK, Care Quality Commission, Women's Institute, Skills for Health, Skills for Care and others to ensure this campaign continues to grow from strength to strength, with you, the Dignity Champions leading that work locally.