Derbyshire County Council has announced plans to further imporve care services

The silver Dignity award has been launched following the success of the bronze award, set up by the county council to start the Derbyshire Dignity Campaign and launched with NHS Derbyshire County in February 2011.

The Derbyshire Dignity Campaign was launched with the aim of ensuring people who come in to contact with health and social care services are always treated with dignity and respect.

The campaign encourages professionals working right across the health and social care sector in Derbyshire to become dignity champions and to test out the work of their teams against a 10-point National Dignity in Care Challenge.

The bronze standard prompted staff to ask the question `is this the best we can do’, and take action to improve in areas where the answer was `no’, measured against 10 key standards.

Today’s launch of the silver standard comes as the 100th bronze Dignity in Care award has been achieved by staff at county council-run Gernon Manor home for older people in Bakewell.

Dozens more teams are close to achieving the bronze award and it is hoped that all bronze award holders will now start working towards achieving the new silver standard.

The silver standard will look at what further service improvements bronze level teams have made regarding dignity, building on the original 10 key standards. It will also require a substantial piece of work based on a theme, for example nutrition.

Teams will have to show evidence that this work has achieved clear results which have benefited people in a positive way.

Workshops for existing bronze standard holders who want to work towards a silver standard will be held shortly and their efforts will be assessed by a specialist team.

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Adult Care Councillor Charles Jones said: “We are very proud of the Derbyshire Dignity Campaign and are working closely with our health partners to promote dignity and respect in every aspect of the work we do.

“A key test for our staff is asking themselves if they are treating people with the same dignity and respect they would want for themselves or their families.

“The launch of the silver standard is another way we can continue to drive up standards of care and raise the bar as high as we can.”

For more information visit www.derbyshire.gov.uk/dignity