Patronising language used by hospital and care home staff towards older people should be banned, a report on improving dignity in care has recommended.

Terms such as ‘old dear’ and ‘bed blocker’ must become as unacceptable as sexist or racist expressions, a report by the Commission on Improving Dignity in Care for Older people says.

The Commission, an independent body set up by the NHS Confederation, the Local Government Association and Age UK, has produced the report after a series of critical reports into elderly care were published in the past year.

The report sets out a blueprint for how the NHS and social care sector should tackle the issue. Issuing a call to end the “persistent failings” in the care system, the Commission on Dignity in Care said the care of older people required fundamental change.

The three co-chairmen of the commission said in a joint foreword to the report: “Like many others, we’ve been deeply saddened by the reports highlighting the undignified care of older people in our hospitals and care homes.

“In too many cases, people have been let down when they were vulnerable and most needed help."” They said they wanted the report to be a “call to arms to the whole health and social care system” and wanted hospitals and care homes to be “beacons to the rest of the community”.

The Patients Association welcomed the report. Roswyn Hakesley-Brown, chairman of the organisation’s board of trustees, said: “We entirely agree with the commission that strong leadership on the wards is vital, and that patients and relatives should be involved in the running of their care homes.

“We also strongly support the proposal to create a new national quality standard for dignity, and the call for the status and role of care home workers to be elevated, in conjunction with the establishment of a Care Quality Forum to look at all aspects of care home staffing.”

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) stressed it was critical that hospitals and care homes employed safe numbers of nurses with the correct skill mix.

Care services minister Paul Burstow said: “Kindness and compassion, dignity and respect must be central to care, whoever provides it. The big challenge for the commission is how to translate their recommendations into action.

“The commission’s draft report makes some good recommendations.”

The Telegraph & Argus last year started a campaign called With Respect to raise awareness of the importance of treating our older generation with respect and dignity.

Health chiefs at hospitals in Bradford and Airedale welcomed the recommendations.

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, said: “The nature of how we care for vulnerable, elderly patients in a society with an ageing population is a key priority for Bradford Teaching Hospitals.

“We are always interested in learning about new ways of improving standards as detailed in the Commission’s draft report and already have programmes in place addressing dignity and respect, as well as introducing schemes enabling more patients to receive treatment at home and programmes addressing the specific clinical needs of this particular patient group in order to improve their quality of life.”

Rob Dearden, director of nursing at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The draft report is welcomed. We will need to give consideration to its recommendations. Privacy and dignity are fundamental to providing respectful, person-centred healthcare and it is important to treat and care for people as individuals.”

Paul Edwards, head of training and practice development in dementia care at the University of Bradford, supported the publication of the report. “It is a complex issue,” he said. “We need to change attitudes in society – these issues don’t exist in a vacuum.

There needs to be a societal attitude shift towards elderly people.”