Compassion, dignity and respect in health care

I'm passionate about compassion in healthcare because I believe that compassion is the one thing that we could be focusing on to change the culture within the NHS. So what is compassion? Well compassion is that feeling that we've all experienced when we know that there is somebody that really cares for us. Compassion comes from that moment when we can see the world through another person's eyes. In healthcare I believe that it comes from people who love their work and who truly understand why they do what they do. Compassion is about treating patients with dignity, respect and empathy through your communication skills and through your actions. It doesn't take very much, it can be a very small gesture that the nurse may do. I've only this morning dealt with a lady that had come about 10 miles on the bus, she was elderly, she would have been entitled probably to hospital transport but she made her own way here. When she came in she was cold so a cup of tea, two biscuits and she was much much happier and that little thing really does make a difference. I think it's particularly powerful when we are feeling vulnerable in physical or psychological pain or when we are afraid. My son is bed bound for six weeks so boredom is a big factor so if he was just left alone in this room he will deteriorate, become sort of depressed almost. So the nurses come in, cheery faces, they ask quite often you know do we need anything. Even the dietician comes in and they'll try and encourage him to eat by sort of giving him star charts and goals to aim for so they're trying to encourage him to get better. The consistent theme is that it is always the smallest things that make the greatest differences. You hear so many stories nowadays about people being treated as a number and it's my experience that the professionals that are looking after me really do seem to care about what's happening, what they can do about it and keeping me informed as to how they're doing it and once you have that information that empowers you then to obviously deal with your illness as best way you can. Not only that it's all the staff even the canteen staff how good they are as well. Compassion isn't just about talking to the patients it's making them feel safe in a nice clean environment where they can feel at home. They've really been so kind to me, they've made me comfortable all the time. I might be a bit anxious over something but they soon sort me out. So I see compassionate care being delivered when the staff themselves feel cared for, when they feel free to speak openly, free from fear then they work together as a team and they trust each other. I think that the most valuable gift that we can give each other and to our patients is the gift of time. Time to allow the patients to speak about what matters most to them and most importantly time for the staff to listen. I think you have to show a genuine interest in the patient without being judgmental. Try and find out a little bit more about their lives, their beliefs, their values in order to empower the patient to be able to make decisions about their rehab and the goals that we're going to set together. They often divulge all sorts of different things about their worries at home. It might be who's going to walk my dog while my legs in plaster and it's things like that that we can help to facilitate arrangements that make a big difference to how they experience their care. I believe that if we focus our attention on things that matter most to our patients then we will gain their absolute trust. This trust would improve clinical outcomes, would improve financial outcomes, would empower patients to improve their quality of life, would reduce their dependency on their system and improve morale of our staff. This has to be our number one priority.