Coordination with related initiatives

The Lancashire approach over time has been to develop the Dignity in Care Campaign in line with other related agendas to enhance the agenda further.

In relation to practice there are clear links to Safeguarding including Lancashire's Mental Capacity Act protocols and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) Team. The Mental Capacity agenda and the DOLS service applies the Human Rights Act on behalf of those with limited capacity and the protection from arbitrary decisions that compromise, restrict or deprive a person of their liberty. This formal work has identified many instances where a persons dignity has not been respected although the full threat to liberty is not met. The work of the DOLS Team has therefore sought to focus upon the importance of maintaining a persons dignity as the first step in preventing situations that may lead to a persons Human Rights being inappropriately restricted or even deprived. Having identified this relationship the manager of the DOLS Team gave a presentation to a Dignity in Care Event to share such understanding and the work of the team.

Further to this presentation a piece of work has been undertaken to identify how both the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and the Mental Capacity Act work to promote the Dignity in Care Agenda. This provides powerful evidence of the benefit of integrating related initiatives to produce a more effective campaign.

These approaches are designed to provide greater freedoms for individuals and have established a fertile link between the principles of Dignity in Care and Safeguarding. It is planned therefore that role of the dignity campaign as a key preventative force in terms of Safeguarding will be explored further in 2010.