Read our latest issue of Care Matters

Just because you need or have care and support in place with your daily living tasks doesn’t mean your rights have been restricted. Find out more in our latest issue of Care Matters.

Just because you need or have care and support in place with your daily living tasks doesn’t mean your rights have been restricted. 

For example, you still have the right to be treated with privacy and dignity, although you may feel these have been taken away. Your care professionals and organisation must ensure your privacy and dignity are respected as much as possible.

They should:

• Talk to the person as an individual
• Avoid stereotyping people
• Allow individuals to do as much for themselves as possible

Dignity in social care ensures individuals who receive care and support are able to make choices about your care. This includes decisions about everyday care needs such as:

• Personal hygiene
• Meal and drink choices
• Communication
• Social interaction
• Pain management
• Moving and assistance

It means you will be respected for your views, choices and decisions. No one will make assumptions about how you want to be treated.

If you struggle to make decisions you might have someone to help make them. If this is the case you are likely to have power of attorney in place, which allows someone to speak on your behalf in the eyes of the law. 

Power of attorney will identify you have given permission for the appointed person to make decisions if there comes a time you need support. But you should still be part of the decision making process.

Privacy means different things to different people. To respect people's privacy, services must be personalised as much as possible. However, some general rules around privacy might be:

• Personal space for receiving visitors in hospital or residential care should be available and accessible when needed.
• Your care professionals should be sensitive to matters of gender, culture or religion when undertaking personal care tasks and basic manners fully respected. They should address you by your correct title unless requested otherwise. Ensure the right balance between being friendly and being respectful.
• Care professionals should be careful about how and where they impart confidential or sensitive information. This means no confidential information about you will be passed onto our customers or care professionals. This builds trust and a positive relationship with your care professionals.
• You should not be made to feel embarrassed when receiving care and support.

As individuals you will be given as much control of your life as possible. Just because you may need support doesn’t mean you must give up on things you are able to do and love.

• You have a right to participate in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible.
• You should be given equal opportunity of achieving your goals, valuing your diversity and finding solutions that work for you.

If you receive care and support you will have an individual care plan tailored to suit you and your care and support needs. Everyone is different.