Care home staff told to seek PERMISSION before calling residents endearing terms such as 'darling'

Norwood House is part of County Care Homes, which is based in Essex and said that while it specialises in dementia care, "most of all we specialise in is love".

County Care Homes described Norwood House: "Norwood House is a purpose built 59 bedroom Residential and Respite home for older people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s related illnesses.

"Set within the peaceful surroundings of Middleton Moor. Norwood House is set in five acres of mature gardens and parkland. There is a secure sun terrace with bandstand.

"Views of the surrounding countryside are spectacular, with the open Moor to the front and farmland to the rear.

"Norwood House was extended and refurbished in 2011 and 2014 by Gareth and Enid Nixon-Moss, Directors of County Care Homes Ltd. Gareth and Enid are passionate about giving the best support to older people and their families.

"The house is surrounded by a large secure garden for the residents to enjoy all year round. This has been designed to offer optimum opportunity for people to take part in light gardening and even help the home grow its own produce, if they choose to do so. Also, garden parties are not to be missed.

"Professionals aim to provide the highest standard of support. The priority is to offer a person centred approach, providing specialist dementia support in a stimulating environment meeting the residents’ holistic needs together with their physical, mental and emotional requirements.

"Owners believe that the right staff, the quality of support, the stimulating environment and opportunities for meaningful occupation make Norwood House a very special place to visit for a short or permanent stay.

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The consent form asks each recipient to fill out their name on behalf of their relative.

They ask them whether they do or do not "give consent for staff of Norwood House, to refer to my relative with the following terms of endearment".

These include:

• Dear
• Darling
• Sweetheart
• My love
• Lovely
• My Lovely
• My Darling
• My Dear

General manager Jose Simoes said the forms were about caring for residents with dignity and giving them them choice over how they're referred to.

He said: "The reaction from relatives has been absolutely positive. It's about dignity and choice for our residents.

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

He added: "If I was to call you sweetheart, you would be able to tell me if you don't like it. But a lot of our residents lack the capacity to tell us if it is something they are comfortable with.

"They're not able to do it, so the next best thing to do is contact their next of kin and ask if they like being called terms of endearment.

"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."