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Right place - Wrong person: Dignity in the acute care of older people

Tadd, Win, Hillman, Alex, Calnan, Sian, Calnan, Michael .W., Bayer, Anthony, Read, Simon (2011) Right place - Wrong person: Dignity in the acute care of older people. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 12 (1). pp. 33-43. ISSN 1471-7794. (doi:10.5042/qiaoa.2011.0143) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:38668)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5042/qiaoa.2011.0143

Abstract

This paper reports on an ethnographic study to explore the experience of dignity in the acute care of older people in four acute NHS trusts. It explores the prevalent view that acute care is not the right place for older people and the failure to acknowledge that the largest group of users are the very old, the frail and the dependent, which results in environments that are not friendly to older people generally, and are especially hostile to those with cognitive impairments. Added to this, a culture that is risk averse and defensive, where care is undervalued and where professional accountability and discretion are replaced by standardised checklists, pathways and audits, cultivates the attitude that if an aspect of care can't be measured it doesn't matter. Overall, getting the job done appears to matter more than how the job is done, so that the focus is primarily on the task rather than seeing the person. It describes how the failure of acute trusts to respond to the needs of the majority of their users - older people - results in the failure to provide dignified care and the impact of this on both the quality of care and patient outcomes. © Pier Professional Ltd.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.5042/qiaoa.2011.0143
Uncontrolled keywords: Acute care, Dignity, Ethnography, Older people, Patient outcomes
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 10 Mar 2014 11:45 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:14 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/38668 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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