The Importance Of Dignity In Care

The main purpose of the essay is to look at the meaning of privacy and dignity in the modern healthcare practice and discuss application of those principles in midwifery practice. The thesis will also explain the importance of privacy and dignity and the reasons for its advocacy but also the impetus to promoting application of those values in care.

The concept of dignity and privacy is broadly researched, discussed and acknowledged as fundamental principle which must be protected and promoted. Despite that, dignity is something that is hard to restrict to one definition but rather is considerably associated with privacy, respect, autonomy and self-esteem. In fact, it depends on combination of self-esteem, self-confidence, identity and interaction with others, particularly on respect received from people. Researchers identified eight

In the light of the undeniable correlation between privacy and dignity in care and the quality of care delivery; moreover, concluding findings of Francis Report (2013), the NHS embedded those issues in healthcare development framework. To improve quality of care, identify good practice and promote patient - centred care Department of Health introduced ‘Essence of Care’ benchmark. One of ten benchmarks depicts respect and dignity and describes best practices to ensure those values are maintained in care likewise identify general issues affecting best practice. To preserve dignity healthcare staff must consider various factors like: individual needs including ethnicity or religion, protecting patient’s confidentiality and ensure safety and respect personal boundaries. Best practice might be additionally compromised by poor leadership, lack of appropriate training or poor documentation (DH,