Spring - News from the council
Our web event in February which focussed on Advanced Care Planning promoted a lot of discussion and certainly set many of us thinking. The event can be viewed on the website for those who were unable to attend.
Our next event will build on some of this thinking but focus more specifically on how we can support others in ensuring that their wishes are acted upon. “Authorisation, representation, legislation and consent to care with Dignity”, will look at the legal context for Advanced Directives and Powers of Attorney, some of the practical considerations from both a provider and a carer viewpoint, including the regulatory and spiritual context for this important phase in our lives. Note the date 26th May 1.30 to 3.30 in your diaries, more details will follow in the next few weeks.
In June 2021, Roisin Burton attended co production discussions at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion regarding ‘Dignity and Respect as Core Drivers of Social Policies’, at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as part of her role as a trustee for the National Dignity Council.
The debate sections encompassed social policy and public services exploring values – specifically the values of dignity and respect – as core drivers of social policy.
The session was to inform research from LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), looking into social policies, investments, and outcomes under the UK governments between May 2015 and pre-pandemic 2020. This work is supported by the Nuffield Foundation, exploring new values-based approaches to social policy, encompassing dignity and respect, recognition and social valuation.
The focus discussions were:
- What are precedents for dignity- based approaches within the health and care system in England?
- Has the pandemic opened up a space for public debate about values-based social policy, through increased recognition and valuing of key public service workers?
The dignity-based themes certainly highlighted the need for continued development & importance of dignity at the centre of Health & Social care, the lived experience of individuals- and how much we can learn from listening to people.
In March Rekha Elaswaparu organised the Caring for Tomorrow - from Education to Practice, Conference at Sunderland University in London. The hybrid approach to the conference worked well, with all students and external speakers attending on line, and the staff attending in person. There were about 100 people attending on the day across various platforms. The topics covered included; Caring in a Joined-up Way, professionals caring outside their sector; Caring for an Ageing Population; Caring for Dignity and Respect presented by our Chair Jan Burns MBE; Fitness to Practice; Diversity and Inclusion and Equality from a global perspective; Health and Well-being in the workplace. Dignity was a key theme throughout all the discussions. Congratulations on organising such a thought-provoking day.
Jan Burns MBE recently presented at Skills for Care Development Meeting, she continues to represent the Council on the Quality Matters Board and maintains close links with CQC and Spectrum Consortium.
The Dignity Training pack which we launched last year is doing really well, and we are pleased that so many people are finding it helpful in getting Dignity on the agenda where they work. At only £25 it certainly is worth every penny. In the forthcoming weeks we hope to launch the next pack which focuses on the role of managers in making Dignity part of the service and work culture. It is being trialled at the moment to make sure we’ve spotted all the deliberate mistakes and should be out in time for our next web-event in May. The Council thanks Liz Taylor our Honorary Secretary for all the work she has undertaken to pull these two packs together.
We are also pleased to have established a closer link with HC-UK training who offer a range of CPD courses and events.