Dignity Ambassador conferences and events

Bloxwich Dignity Champions meet Sir Michael Parkinson at 'An Evening with Sir Michael Parkinson' 29 September 2009

The Bloxwich Hospital Dignity Champions had the huge honour of meeting Dignity ambassador Sir Michael Parkinson on 29th September 2009 at Wolverhampton Civic Centre. This was a fundraising event for Help the Heroes which Sir Michael Hosted.

The Dignity Champions at Bloxwich Hospital meet everyday and have done so for the past year. Bloxwich champions are always trying to raise the profile and understand Dignity in more detail, they felt that in meeting the Dignity ambassador they could achieve these aspects.

As Sir Michael Parkinson spoke with the Dignity Champions and expressed how he was impressed and encouraged by their work. The work of the Dignity Champions is particularly close to Michael's heart due to the care that his own mother received. Michael expressed his support in the importance of bringing the Dignity in Care agenda to the forefront of everyone, and improving the patient experience.

The Bloxwich Dignity Champions are very happy to have met Sir Michael Parkinson and to have taken part in supporting the charity event for Help the Heroes.

Spreading the word 09 July 2009

Sir Michael Parkinson was invited onto the famous GMTV couch to chat about the Dignity in Care campaign. He spoke to them about his reasons for getting involved and the good work that can be done by those who want to get involved.

• GMTV interview Sir Michael

Award winning, 08 July 2009

Sir Michael attended the Health and Social Care Awards to announce and congratulate the winner of the National Peoples Award for Dignity in Care, Chris Took.

Congratulations to Chris and to the other finalists and regional winners/finalists for all their hard work. Chris received the award for transforming meals and meal times for terminally-ill patients at the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted.

Read more about his innovative good practise and that of the other finalists on the awards pages of this website.

Interactive, busy day for our Dignity Ambassador, 01 July 2009

In the morning Sir Michael attended the Dignity Who cares event, which was jointly hosted by the North West and Yorkshire/Humber . Sir Michael hosted a very successful "Question time" session at the regional 'Dignity - who cares' event and also had time to walk around the market place and meet some of the regional champions.

• Sir Michael Parkinson and the 'Dignity - Who cares?' event
  Sir Michael hosted the very successful "Question time" session at the 'Dignity - Who cares' event in Leeds. The other panel members included the previous care services minister, Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal,...

Sir Michael then had to rush off to Harrogate in the afternoon where he was given a warm welcome by the annual LGA conference. In his speech he reminded the audience that "Councillors can help by involving older people more and more in plans for our future society. We should be making use of older people's considerable talents, and involving them in every aspect of local life,"

• Sir Michael at the LGA conference
  Sir Michael gave a well received speech to the LGA conference and followed this by answering some of the audiences questions around Dignity.

National Pensioners Convention gave a warm welcome to our Dignity Ambassador, Sir Michael Parkinson - 04 June 09

Sir Michael gave a rousing speech to the National Pensioners convention, saying:

"A slogan is not enough, the greater overall problem is how we, as a society, treat older people. Our indifference to a valuable asset is wasteful"

"We need to celebrate the business of growing old instead of fearing it"

He also spoke about his reasons for becoming the Dignity Ambassador and what he had encountered during this time, which you can read more about in the Daily Telegraph article below.

• Read the Daily Telegraph article on Sir Michael's speech
  Sir Michael received rapturous applause for his speech at the National Pensioners convention.

Speech by Sir Michael Parkinson to the RCN congress, 13 May 2009

Sir Michael received a standing ovation for his speech at the RCN congress. He called upon everyone to celebrate older people and reminded the audience that it was the responsibility of all to ensure this change came about.

While he was there he also met a number of senior RCN officials and discussed the ways in which the RCN are championing Dignity in care.

• Watch Sir Michael's speech at the RCN congress
  RCN website including Sir Michael's speech.
• RCN congress - Yorkshire Post
  Article by the Yorkshire post on Sir Michael at the RCN Congress
• Sir Michael visits Weston Area NHS Trust 06 April 2009
  You can read here about Sir Michael's visit to Weston Area NHS Trust and view some of the media coverage from the day.
• Sir Michael Parkinson on Sunshine Radio
  The sunshine radio team at Weston Area NHS Trusts were delighted when Sir Michael knocked on their studio door for an impromptu interview during his visit to the hospital on 6 April. Following a tour...

Visits and conferences around the UK, 2008

Our Dignity Ambassador, Sir Michael Parkinson has been visiting care settings and attending conferences around the country to help raise the profile of the Dignity in Care Campaign and to encourage people to take action in support of the campaign. You can read here about these visits and conference and see some of the press coverage generated.

National Dignity Matters Conference November 2008

Sir Michael also played a key role at our 2^nd anniversary conference "Dignity Matters in London on 25 November 2008. He met several of our Dignity Champions at that event and he joined Amanda Waring, Barbara Pointen and Barbara Dearnley for a live "sofa chat". For more information on the Dignity Matters conference and to see the presentations please click on the link below.

Sir Michael also took part in some of our regional Dignity Tour visits. You can follow the links below to read about these visits and some of the best practice Sir Michael saw on the day.