Silver dignity awards handed out by Derbyshire County Council

Seven teams were recently presented with their silver dignity award certificates at a ceremony held at County Hall in Matlock.

People using the services joined staff to receive the certificates from county council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Councillor Clare Neill.

The silver dignity award was launched following the success of the bronze award, set up by the county council to start the Derbyshire Dignity Campaign as a partnership in 2011 between Derbyshire County Council and the NHS.

The Derbyshire Dignity Campaign was developed 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 to take action to improve in areas were the answer was `no’, measured against 10 key standards.

The silver standard was launched following the success of the bronze award, for which around 240 social care and health teams across the county have applied to date.

The new silver award looks at what further service improvements bronze level teams have made regarding dignity, building on the original 10 key standards. To be considered for the silver standard, teams also have to complete a piece of work or develop a project based on a theme, for example nutrition.

To be successful, teams have, above all, had to show evidence that their work has achieved clear results which have benefited people in a positive way.

Councillor Neill said: “We are working hard with our NHS colleagues to try to improve services without increasing costs. This includes looking at how we do things and working to reduce waste and avoid duplication of services.

“The silver Dignity standard has been developed by people using our services and health and social care staff all working together, and the results are very impressive.

“I am grateful to everyone who has been involved in the work towards gaining their silver standard as they have really made a difference and gone the extra mile to make sure their services are shining examples.”