`Dignity' pledge over the elderly.The Government pledged yesterday to toughen up nursing home and hospital inspections to ensure "dignity" for older people is a priority. Hospital nurses will be given specific responsibility for making sure that the rights and views of older people are always taken into consideration. The National Director for Older People, Professor Ian Philp, said dignity meant being sensitive to older people's feelings "in difficult circumstances". It was about ensuring that they felt respected and that attention was paid to the "subtlety sub·tle·ty n. pl. sub·tle·ties 1. The quality or state of being subtle. 2. Something subtle, especially a nicety of thought or a fine distinction. " of relationships between the elder- ly and those caring for them. Prof Philp was speaking alongside Care Services Minister Liam Byrne at the launch of the second half of the Government's 10-year plan ( the National Service Framework for Older People. Prof Philp pledged to toughen up the system of inspections and promote the "active use" of the complaints system in care homes and hospitals. Patients would be encouraged to understand their rights, including their legal rights, he said. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI (Computer Software Configuration Item) A group of software treated as a single entity by a configuration management (CM) system. See configuration management. CSCI - Computer Software Configuration Item ) inspects local authority and private care homes while the Healthcare Commission The Healthcare Commission is an independent body, set up to promote and drive improvement in the quality of healthcare and public health in England and Wales. It aims to achieve this by becoming an authoritative and trusted source of information and by ensuring that this inspects hospitals. A spokeswoman for the Healthcare Commission said that it carried out "risk-based" assessments as often as it needed. |
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