Oxfordshire Dignity in Care Awards 2015
The subject of dignity in care has never been more important. This year Healthwatch Oxfordshire and Age UK Oxfordshire are teaming up to try and find out how well national standards on Dignity in Care are being met in Oxfordshire. We will be investigating the experiences of people with a wide range of needs and in a wide variety of circumstances. We know that a lot of evidence and learning will emerge from this work about how we can improve standards of dignity in care in Oxfordshire.
We are clear that to promote dignity in care we should also be energetic and positive in finding, celebrating and publicising where people experience great care and in recognising and thanking the individual champions of dignity in care. To this end we are calling for nominations of people, places, agencies and initiatives which have excelled in meeting national Dignity in Care standards.
Awards categories are as follows:
The Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers award for leadership in dignity in care
We want to hear about someone who leads a care team or a care service, who has shown a strong personal commitment to the dignity and respect with which the users of their service are treated. This will be someone with management or supervisory responsibility, who has led from the front in the way they see and respond to the person as an individual and a human being. It may also be that they are special because they are known to treat staff in their team with the same dignity they expect for those who receive care and support.
Award for a care or support setting or service.
We want to hear about a place or service where care or support is given where there is a really strong emphasis on dignity – from clear communication to basic care to treating people as human beings. This could be a care home, or an acute or community hospital ward, some form of special housing where care is given such as ‘Extra care’, someone’s home where an agency is particularly good at making the person feel valued, or in the community where people are supported. This award should be about how the whole place feels and how people typically behave.
We want to hear about staff who go the extra mile in making someone feel they have dignity and ensure they are treated with care and compassion. We would like to make up to three awards to individuals who work hard to respond to the person receiving care or support, who take the trouble to get to know them properly and who communicate well with them. We are looking to hear about dedication and commitment, and above all about caring for the person with kindness and respect, finding time to support them even though they are busy.
The Picker Institute Award for innovation in Dignity in Care
We want to hear about something that has been changed, adapted or done differently. It could be changing mealtimes and the daily schedules so that they better support someone to have quality of care or support. Or it could be a practical device such as redesigned hospital gowns, ‘no entry’ signs on curtains around a hospital bed, ways of helping people get to the toilet with dignity, or a significant change in ways of improving communication with people. Anything that shows imagination in an effort to respond to people’s needs, whether for comfort, privacy, better communication or decency, and which can easily be replicated by others.
Award for an unpaid carer or a volunteer worker
We want to hear about people who are the soul of care, and who give their time, energy and skill to ensure that the person being cared for has a better experience of care and support and feels that they matter. This individual could come from any setting in which care takes place, from care home to hospital ward.
‘Josie’s award’
Josie Smith was a remarkable force for good in the lives of people around her, and especially in the lives of people who needed care and support: an unstoppable influence for the better. This award is for an individual who resembles some of Josie’s characteristics – of intelligence and understanding, passionate commitment to better care, championship of unpopular or unknown causes, tenacity, energy and determination, and the long haul of campaigning. We want to celebrate an individual of any kind who in some way is making an exceptional difference to dignity in care with some of these qualities.
Nominations close on Friday 11 September 2015.
Full details can be found at: http://www.healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk/DignityAward