tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327718065135964598.post4954115302760182062..comments2023-08-10T15:02:51.259+01:00Comments on The Small Places: The darker side of dignityLucy Serieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07820866715125284389noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327718065135964598.post-63923967020012804572011-07-14T09:31:11.776+01:002011-07-14T09:31:11.776+01:00Thanks Anonymous and Malcolm for your comments.
A...Thanks Anonymous and Malcolm for your comments.<br /><br />Anonymous - you're quite right, the fact that Ms McDonald is left in bed for 12 hours isn't even mentioned in the judgment, only the Age UK press release. And yet that seems to me to be a major issue. To be honest, 12 hours is shorter than with some care providers I've seen... <br /><br />Thanks for the links to stuff on dignity Malcolm, I'll definitely look those up. I was reading the Law Commission's final report on Adult Social Care yesterday and came across this interesting passage on dignity:<br /><br />'4.35 We have also reviewed the other principles put forward at consultation. We remain concerned that concepts such as dignity and independent living are too imprecise to be expressed as statutory principles. The notion of dignity has been used by the courts in judgments which are addressing texts which do not use the word dignity. This suggests that while a legal structure can be constructed in a way that is conducive to dignity – or even in a way which undermines it – it is difficult to build a legal structure on the imprecise notion of dignity.'<br /><br />http://www.justice.gov.uk/lawcommission/publications/1460.htm<br /><br />It seems the term is not a favourite with law makers.Lucy Serieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07820866715125284389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327718065135964598.post-77988178834022802502011-07-13T21:26:04.599+01:002011-07-13T21:26:04.599+01:00Under these arrangements Ms MacDonald is expected ...Under these arrangements Ms MacDonald is expected to go to bed at 8.30pm!<br />She is then left alone for 12 hours. <br />A care assistant treating someone like this in a residential home would be accused of gross negligence because of the risk to health. <br />I have seen a gangrenous bedsore so know that personal care is not just a matter of dignity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327718065135964598.post-32776394442744217262011-07-13T21:04:50.442+01:002011-07-13T21:04:50.442+01:00Many thanks for an interesting introduction to thi...Many thanks for an interesting introduction to this topic from a human rights point of view. You probably know about 'dignity in dying' and its opponents in the assisted suicide debate; some people think that 'dignity' there is a marketing tool concept for both sides. However, there is a research and practice debate about what is dignity in the nursing and social work field, which I'm just writing an article about for the journal 'Ethics and Social Welfare' and was pleased to learn about the points you are making. On my palliative care blog, there is a now somewhat elderly post with an account of some of the issues at that time: http://blogs.stchristophers.org.uk/one/2008/09/23/resource-document-dignity-in-care-policy/. There are other mentions of diginity if you search the archive of my blog. You may also find useful the Social Care Instiute for Excellence website on 'dignity in care': http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide15/index.asp; SCIE organises the Department of Health work on dignity in care, and publishes a literature review, which you can download from its site. Its 'social care online' database also gives access to a wide range of social work literature, and you could probably find a lot of citations on dignity in health and social care in that. There is a very important recent publication on dignity in older people published as a result of a European study of older people: Nordenfelt, L. (Ed.)(2009), Dignity in care for older people. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Malcolm Paynehttp://blogs.stchristophers.org.uk/one/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327718065135964598.post-84234963423273057852011-07-06T17:13:50.866+01:002011-07-06T17:13:50.866+01:00Good post and good timing as usual. I have been po...Good post and good timing as usual. I have been pondering this issue for some time and as it stands I don't think we are currently there in terms of where the bar is set by the courts.<br /><br />Dignity and access to services began in ernest in the Uk from a human rights angle in the 90's in particular when we saw a relatively steep rise in asylum applications and the concomitant removal of access to health and social care provision unless there was a breach of ECHR rights.<br /><br />It was a period of time that i believe led to the incorporation directly of the ECHR into UK domestic legislation via the HRA 98.<br /><br />I believe we are now into a new phase of this with the Dilnot review and the move into co-funding etc.<br /><br />Dignity in some senses is linked to aspiration and expectation: that is the personal and the organisational.<br /><br />Currently our social care systems don't aspire to dignity: notwithstanding it theoretically exists in a variety fo policies. The response to Dilnot in some quarters as being about chasing the middle class vote is I feel a symptom of that lack of aspiration.<br /><br />I am working on some ideas around this and want to thank you Lucy as this helps enormously my thinking. I may reference this work if that is OK with you?<br /><br />kind regards<br /><br />NoelNoel McDermotthttp://www.noelmcdermott.netnoreply@blogger.com