A nurse from Weston-super-Mare is the 3,000th volunteer to become a Dignity Champion, Care Services Minister Phil Hope announced today.

Jayne Biddiscombe joins other frontline staff, MPs and, most famously, Michael Parkinson, as a volunteer who commits to make a difference to the way older people are cared for.

The Dignity in Care Campaign, launched in 2006, aims to ensure that all people using care and health services are treated with dignity and respect at all times. The campaign hopes to inspire and equip people to drive up care standards and encourage people to become Dignity Champions, spreading best practice and giving advice to other health and social care workers.

At the start of the tour in May the Government’s aim was to double the number of dignity champions to more than 3,000 by the end of the year. Sir Michael Parkinson was appointed as the first National Dignity Ambassador to help raise the profile of this important agenda.

Dignity Champions come from different walks of life. Anyone can become a Dignity Champion, and the current 3,000 include frontline staff, local councillors, people from voluntary organisations, volunteers, and of course people who use care services, their relatives and carers, and members of the public.

What they do in their roles as Dignity Champions varies widely but what they all share is a commitment to making a difference, however small, to the way older people experience care.