Improving the patient and client experience
Published: 12 November 2008
RCN Northern Ireland helps launch new standards to promote patient and client dignity
RCN Northern Ireland Director Mary Hinds joined Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety Michael McGimpsey MLA on Wednesday 12 November to launch Improving the patient and client experience.
This is a new range of standards defining what the public should be able to expect from nurses and other health and social care staff. They incorporate key elements of the RCN’s dignity campaign and were jointly drafted on behalf of the DHSSPS by the Northern Ireland Practice and Education Council [NIPEC] and RCN Northern Ireland. The five standards relate to respect, attitude, behaviour, communication, and privacy and dignity.
Speaking at the launch, which took place during the Chief Nursing Officer’s Annual Conference in Belfast, the Minister said: “I believe that the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to receive the highest quality of health and social care. They want to be able to access services easily, when they need them and to receive a high standard of service regardless of where they live. They also want to receive care and treatment from staff, whether clinical or non-clinical, who carry out their job in a considerate, caring and professional manner.
"Earlier this year I pledged my support for the RCN’s Dignity in Care campaign and asked the Chief Nursing Officer to work with the RCN and NIPEC on developing a set of standards and statements that would underpin our commitment to improving the experience of those patients and clients who use our services. I am pleased to be here today to launch these new standards of care.
"Nurses have always been central to the delivery of high quality care. I want nurses, both at the bedside and in the board room, to be champions for good quality care, and I want leaders of health and social care organisations to demonstrate those same behaviours which are consistent with high standards of care and compassion.”
RCN Northern Ireland Director Mary Hinds said: “Every patient, whether they are in a hospital, GP surgery, in the community or in a care home, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. The RCN has been delighted to work with NIPEC and the DHSSPS towards developing these standards of care, which are aimed at improving the patient and client experience in Northern Ireland.
"Dignity should be integral to nursing care and, as part of the RCN’s wider campaign on dignity, we hope these standards are a step in the right direction for all those working in health and social services. Nurses have told us that they are extremely concerned about their capacity to provide dignified care. We hope that this work at a local level will help to ensure that dignity and improving the patient and client experience can be placed at the core of nursing care.”