In 2009 the NHS constitution was published by the Department of health to help set key principles for all NHS bodies. The Department of health has last renewed the NHS constitution in 2013.The Department of health sets out that it will renew the constitution every 10 years (NHS constitution, 2015).
The NHS constitution is there to provide a professional standard of care in a safe, high-quality environment. These values are in place to be a common reference for all NHS staff; patients and public so that they are striving towards the same principles and values.
There are 7 key values that guide the NHS in everything they do. The 7 key values are: working together for patients, respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, improving lives and everyone counts (NHS constitution, 2015). These key values are in place so that, when providing quality of care they have basic requirements for all NHS staff.
The patients that visit the NHS or any other health organisation should be looked after with respect and dignity regardless of their race, gender and age. Respect is something we give to others. It’s the consideration that we show, to other individuals in every interaction between us and the patients, family and carers. It’s the idea that we ‘recognise
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It’s about us being gentle and caring in the way we give care and also about us not only looking after their physical needs but looking after them holistically. Nurses should especially have this quality since they are dealing with patients and family so closely. Heijkenskjold et al (2010) and Lindwall et al (2012) agree that patients’ voices being listened to, heard, valued and understood is essential to ensure respect and dignity for patients. Furthermore Heijkenskjold et al (2010) had found that nurses that treated patients as human beings and interacted ‘preserved’ their