A 'deterioration in the level of compassion and care' in the NHS has led to a new campaign by a UK health think-tank.
The Point of Care project, launched by The King’s Fund, aims to transform patients’ experience of care in hospital.
The initiative has begun with the publication of Seeing the person in the patient: The Point of Care Review Paper, a report that assesses the scale and nature of the problems patients experience. It also examines why staff don’t always provide the sort of care they would want for themselves and their own families.
Niall Dickson, CEO of The King’s Fund, said: “Most of us know from our own experience that while care is often fantastic, it is sometimes impersonal and lacks compassion. Yet how we are treated can affect how we recover and for a hospital there is scarcely anything more important than ensuring that every patient is treated with kindness and consideration – not as a collection of symptoms but as an individual with anxieties, feelings and views.”
The report identifies a number of problems, including marked variations in the quality of care and the need for staff to see the person in the patient. The research also highlighted a lack of evidence to support many of the methods now being used to improve services, which often focused on just one group of staff or one aspect of patient experience.
The King’s Fund has identified two proven initiatives to promote compassion in care, the first of which is the Schwartz Center Rounds. These provide a monthly one-hour session for staff from all disciplines to come together and discuss difficult emotional and social issues arising from patient care. The Rounds will be piloted at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust from early 2009 and other trusts in England from mid 2009.
The second is called Experience Based Design. This involves patients and staff working together to improve the experience – or feel – of using services, drawing on ideas from design in which users are a central part of the process. Patients and staff are partners in the process, strengthening the link between them.
Teresa Brotherton, a returning radiographer currently based at Queen Alexandra hospital, Portsmouth, recently attended a campaign launch event within Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust.
"Nobody enters into a healthcare profession without wanting to provide the highest levels of patient care,” she said. “However, as staffing levels drop and time pressures increase it is easy to forget that we are caring for vulnerable and often very scared individuals.
"This campaign is a good way to remind us of these facts and also finds ways of helping us make the smallest of changes in our practice and our attitudes. By gaining this support we can deliver a more positive experience for all patients under our care.”
There are many inexpensive and simple schemes that can held improve patient care, says Teresa. The Pink Pegs and Privacy Signs initiative is one example. This involves staff treating the curtains around a patient’s bed in the same way they would a closed door. Instead of breezing in through the curtains, staff are expected to announce their presence and wait for the patient to ask them in. If the patient is on a commode or in a state of undress, they are able to make themselves presentable, thus maintaining their dignity.
Teresa continues: "Radiographers can ask themselves how we can improve patient care and preserve dignity. Are there small changes we can make to examination protocols to encourage staff to consider patient dignity a priority. We usually only have a short amount of contact time with patients – how can we make a difference in that limited timeframe?”
Mark Terry, SoR student observer to council said he was confident his student peers plan to uphold patient care as a priority when they take over as the next generation of radiographers: "Patient care is at the centre of all our clinical skills. From the first year as radiography students we are taught and experience first-hand the issues of patient care in an hospital environment, as well as specifically the radiology department.
"My course covers a healthcare skills module on regulations and directives of patient care from outpatients to inpatients. In clinical placements students experience many forms of patient care and for me you can pick up good techniques and patient care skills and improve your own skills. Also, with the increased use of CPD I think healthcare professionals in general, and radiographers specifically are already acutely aware of patient care throughout their career."
• As the next generation of radiographers: What are your views on the King's Fund initiative? Email the editor.
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