WHEN THIS newspaper launched its With Respect.... Campaign to improve dignity and standards of care for the elderly, we were primarily concerned with the increasing number of reports we received from readers about the treatment they, or older relatives, had received in hospitals and care homes.

Often, we felt, cash-strapped services struggled to put the needs of patients first and the elderly and their particular sensitivities and needs were sometimes overlooked.

So we are especially pleased to report today on a pioneering Bradford health invention which has won a prestigious award for breaking new ground in the care of older people in the UK.

The Royal College of Physicians’ Patient Care Award has been presented to researchers at the Bradford Institute for Health Research, based at Bradford Royal Infirmary, for developing an electronic index which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as the rate at which their independence and capability falls.

The index has also been given official guidance status by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and is available to 90 per cent of the country’s GPs to use.

We would like to add our heartfelt congrat-ulations to the BIHR team on a very well deserved award. This is exactly the kind of innovation we believe could make a substantial difference to the way elderly people are looked after in our health and care institutions and will undoubtedly make such situations more dignified for those involved.

Let’s hope it is widely adopted - and soon.