The
government’s Dignity in Care campaign is to be extended from older people to people with mental health problems, care services minister Ivan Lewis announced today.
The campaign, which began last year to promote “zero tolerance” on abuse and respect for older people, will help combat discrimination against mental health patients, Lewis said.
The Department of Health will work in partnership with Moving People, an anti-stigma campaign run by a consortium of mental health charities.
As part of Dignity in Care, 1,000 people have been recognised for their work as “dignity champions” for older people.
Mental health charity Rethink said the government needed to abolish mixed-sex mental health wards immediately if it wanted to ensure people with mental health problems were treated with respect.
Lewis’s announcement comes
just two days after a female patient was killed on a mixed-sex ward in Rochdale.
More information
Dignity in care Moving People
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