Dignity Code
National Pensioners' Dignity Code
In 2012, Britain’s biggest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners’ Convention (NPC), launched it’s Dignity Code. The code sets out minimum standards for the dignified treatment of older people, whether in hospital or the community and calls for an end to abuse and neglect. On the 1 September 2012, the NPC wrote to the Leader of the Council asking for the Council to support the Dignity Code.
The code sets out 19 points on how older people should and should not be treated. Much of what the dignity code calls for is to treat individuals as human beings and not as second-class citizens who can have their wishes and feelings ignored and overlooked. The code complements what is already covered in the Council’s Customer Charter and Equality Policies.
Primarily, the code is aimed at those organisations that provide medical and care services to older people but it does complement the Council’s corporate objectives and values around health, equality and customer focus and will be relevant in the delivery of certain council services.