A Dignity in Care campaigner said a health service ombudsman report underlined the "need for a sea change in attitude" towards the elderly.

Actress Amanda Waring, daughter of the late actress Dame Dorothy Tutin, was moved to make the awareness-raising short film "What Do You See" following the "appalling" care her mother received before her death in 2005.

Miss Waring from Pulborough, said: "She was treated like a caged animal when she had leukaemia, with an appalling lack of dignity."

Her heart-rending 2006 film depicts Virginia McKenna as an elderly woman sharing her inner thoughts as she is subjected to undignified treatment in a home.

Her character says: "What do you see nurses, what do you see? Are you seeing when you are looking at me, a crabbit old woman, not very wise, uncertain of habit with faraway eyes."

Miss Waring said she hoped the report would act as a "positive jump-start", adding: "A change in attitude does not need to cost money. There is a degree of understanding that behaviour needs to be changed.

"At the end of a person's life it is the love received they will remember. If you allow someone to have dignity and respect they will feel valued. It's a necessity not a luxury."

Miss Waring, a mother of one, will be supporting Dignity Action Day on February 25, which aims to uphold people's rights to dignity.