North Yorkshire County Council’s social care staff are raising awareness about the importance of dignity and respect in the care of vulnerable and older people.
At a time when the delivery of social care is facing significant funding and staffing pressures both nationally and in the region, North Yorkshire’s care and support staff created a series of events last week to highlight the importance of upholding people’s rights to dignity in the care they receive.
Staff, family and friends at Greyfriars Extra Care in Richmond, for example, came together to celebrate Dignity Day with a tea party, making special cakes and sandwiches for residents.
Dignity Day is an annual opportunity for health and social care workers, families and members of the public to mark the campaign for people who use care services to be treated as individuals with choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.
County Councillor Michael Harrison, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health Integration, said:
Our care staff work to the highest standards and take pride in this very important work. They believe passionately that treating people with dignity and respect is central to their work and central to the success in supporting people to live independently within their own communities for as long as possible.
This year staff were joined by Richard Webb, the County Council’s Corporate Director for Health and Adult Services, Cllr Caroline Dickinson, Executive Member for Public Health and Cllr Stuart Parsons, the Mayor of Richmond, who is also a County Council member.
Care staff in Harrogate who work in the county council’s reablement teams also marked the Dignity action day by enabling people to write a few words or poems on a paper leaf about how they are treated with respect. The leaves are now hanging on a tree in the county council’s Harrogate offices.
Samantha Harrison, Director of Harrogate-based domiciliary care company Continued Care, said:
It is great to see what different members and teams of the council have done to engage people on this important issue.
Promoting clients’ dignity and well-being is of paramount importance, not only for those working in the Care sector, but more widely for society and the community to respect and value individuals’ choice, independence and autonomy.
Reablement teams give people intensive and effective support to get them back on their feet and managing independently, either to prevent them going into hospital or supporting them to leave hospital.
Cllr Harrison, said:
We continue to press for fairer funding to meet mounting pressures in the delivery of adult social care across what is England’s largest and predominantly rural county. North Yorkshire has protected adult social care spending with over 42 per cent of our total budget now spent on the service. Despite the pressures we continue to prioritize spending in all areas that deal with vulnerable people, both young and old.
As our commitment to Dignity Day shows, we continue to invest in developing services with an emphasis on prevention such as reablement and Extra Care – a flagship programme which supports people to live more independent lives in their own homes and communities with care, when needed, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
The County Council has also begun a campaign this year to recruit more care staff and welcomes applicants wishing to join its care teams.
More information about the county council’s recruitment campaign and recruitment events can be found on
http://www.makecarematter.co.uk/
