Care home asks consent to call residents 'darling'

Relatives have been asked to give permission for certain terms of endearment to be used

A care home asked relatives to give consent for loved ones to be referred to by terms of endearment including "dear", "sweetheart" and "darling".

Norwood House Care Home in Middleton, Suffolk, specialises in dementia care and began sending out the consent forms in June.

They ask recipients if they do, or do not, give consent for staff to refer to residents with terms of endearment like "Dear, Darling, Sweetheart, My Love, Lovely, My Lovely, My Darling and My Dear".

The care home's general manager said there had been a "very positive" response to the forms and it was "about dignity and relatives being given the choice of how they would like their loved ones to be referred to".

General manager Jose Simoes said "terms of endearment can be a grey area"

County Care Homes, which is based in Essex, said while it specialises in dementia care, "most of all we specialise in love", its website read.

It described Norwood House as a former farmhouse situated "in the peaceful surroundings of Middleton Moor" based in five acres of parkland with a sun terrace, bandstand and room for 71 guests.

General Manager Jose Simoes said: "The letter we have sent out this month is all about dignity and its about our residents being given the choice of how they would like to be treated and the terms of endearment they would like to be known by.

"Terms of endearment can be a grey area and we do not want to upset anybody so we decided to send out a consent form to relatives asking them how they would like their loved ones to be referred to by staff."

Mr Simoes said the letter had been well received.

"People have have been positively impressed that we are asking them what terms of endearment their relatives would prefer." he added.