‘Dignity’ inspections in hundreds of care homes within weeks

A team of inspectors is to be sent into hundreds of care homes within to check whether elderly people are being treated with dignity.

The care regulator the Care Quality Commission, said inspectors would begin carrying out unannounced spot checks on residential homes across England from next month checking whether basic standards are being maintained.

It comes as the Government threw its weight behind a new code of conduct for care workers and nurses which demands that elderly patients are treated with dignity and respect and not simply treated as “objects”.

Politicians on both sides of the Commons, The Royal College of Nursing, the TUC, and charities including AGE UK are among supporters of the new “Dignity Code” drawn up by the National Pensioners’ Convention.

Care workers could eventually have this new code written into their contracts, supporters hope.

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, signed by the care minister Paul Burstow and his Labour shadow, Liz Kendall, supporters of the new code warn that pensioners are repeatedly being prevented from making up their own minds, denied treatment on the basis of their age, spoken down to and deprived of privacy.

Elderly people are being treated as ‘objects’ in the care system, say politicians, regulators and charities (ALAMY) Elderly people are being treated as ‘objects’ in the care system, say politicians, regulators and charities (ALAMY)

“For too long, too many of those people have been ignored, denied the basic right to speak for themselves or make up their own mind,” the letter warns. “In this era of human rights, too many older people have seen their basic human dignity undermined in situations where they are treated as objects rather than people.”

It is hoped the code will be on display in every care home, doctors’ surgery and hospital ward in the country and made a central plank of nurses’ and care workers’ training.

It follows a string of scandals involving the abuse of the elderly and disabled and comes at a time when funding of elderly care is under more intense scrutiny than ever before.

Around 400,000 people in England live in care homes while more than two million older people overall are need of care in some form.

The residential care market is worth an estimated £14 billion a year of which almost £10 billion goes to private care homes.

Earlier this month a committee of MPs warned that frail elderly people were being “passed like parcels” between different agencies in a fragmented and chaotic care system in desperate need of reform.

The letter, signed by 21 public figures including the heads of Age UK, the Royal College of Nursing, the TUC and the care regulator the Care Quality Commission, demands an end not just to extreme cases of abuse but also everyday practices which diminish the dignity of older people.

“In extreme cases, there have been instances of abuse and neglect, but there are many examples of older people being spoken about as if they were not there, deprived of basic privacy or denied respect for their hygiene or personal appearance,” it adds.

“At times people have been refused treatment on grounds of age while others have been subject to unnecessary medication or restraints. This has to stop.”

The new code, which is published today, calls on nurses and carers always to obtain consent for treatments and demands that elderly people are allowed to “speak for themselves” either directly, or in cases where this is no longer possible, through a friend or relative.

Significantly, it requires carers to address older people formally rather than by their first name, unless they are invited to do otherwise.

It emerged today that a programme of inspection on care homes across England specifically targeting dignity issues is to begin in April.

The CQC said that 500 care homes would be visited with areas such as the quality of meals coming under scrutiny.

A similar programme of inspections in the NHS last year found that almost half of hospitals were failing to feed elderly patients properly and dignity was lacking in care at 40 per cent.

Dame Jo Williams, chair of the CQC, said: “We welcome the National Pensioner’s Convention’s Dignity Code. Many of its underlying principles are reflected within our own regulatory framework.

“The CQC cannot stress enough the importance of respecting and involving people who use services and the critical issues around safeguarding.

“Our NHS Dignity and Nutrition Inspection Programme looked specifically at whether the essential standards of dignity and nutrition were being met on wards caring for older people and we will be launching a new inspection programme looking at the same issues in social care shortly.”

Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners’ Convention said: “Much of what the Dignity Code calls for is to treat individuals as human beings, rather than as second-class citizens who can have their wishes and feelings ignored and overlooked.

“Providing someone with personal dignity must be a basic requirement in any care setting and there must be no excuse for denying someone their right to be treated with respect.”

Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of the charity Action on Elder Abuse, one of the signatories, said standards of respect for elderly people in care had deteriorated so badly over the last 10 years that neglect is now being taken for granted.

“When you are in an environment that degrades you every day in the little things, that you can’t escape from, that is death by a thousand cuts, that just destroys who you are, it is so humiliating or degrading, that’s what we have to deal with.”

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, another of the signatories said: “Nurses can and should be leaders in developing the right attitudes towards older people and their needs and dignity.

“However, this is also a wider issue, and it must be recognised that as a nation, the population is getting older and our attitudes have to recognise and embrace this change.”

Liz Kendall, the shadow care minister, said: “Healthcare is becoming increasingly specialised, with the risk that services too often focus on the medical and technical aspects of treatment and not on the basic human elements of care.

“We must ensure the quality and experience of care for older people is a top priority for the NHS.”

Paul Burstow, the care minister, said: “Older people play an incredibly important role in society and are the linchpins of many families and communities.

“Ensuring they are listened to, respected and protected in later life is the least we can all do in return.

“By placing my signature alongside those of others I want to send a clear sign that government is determined to lead the way in making sure all those things happen.”

But last night Mr Burstow also warned that serious cases of abuse were in danger of being overlooked because regulators are swamped with trivial reports of welfare issues from staff obsessed with watching their own backs.

He cited examples of how a care assistant who fell asleep on duty on one occasion was reported as a “safeguarding issue” as was a torn piece of carpet.

“Those systems only work if they are used properly and the people running them do not become bogged down investigating cases that have nothing to do with protecting people from abuse,” he said.

“This is about common sense, trusting front line professionals to use their judgment so that the most serious cases of abuse don’t get lost amongst cases that should never have been referred in the first place.”

Later this month the findings of a new joint commission on dignity in care involving NHS and council leaders and Age UK are due to be published.