The departing words of the previous Chief Executive of the NHS, Sir David Nicholson, were a bleak warning: if things continue as they are the NHS will face a
£30 billion funding gapby the end of the next parliament in 2020. We are already constantly reminded that the NHS is struggling and no doubt as the general election looms closer the NHS will become under greater scrutiny.
Yet Sir David Nicholson’s less well remembered leaving words were also that “pressures [on the NHS] could lead to another tragedy on the scale of the failings at Stafford Hospital”.
It is worrying then that yesterday’s new poll from Macmillan Cancer Support found that two fifths of people who have been in hospital, or know someone close to them that has, say that they have been treated with a lack of dignity and compassion during a stay in the last five years [1]. A year and a half on from the Francis Report, which should have been a watershed moment for the NHS, it is unacceptable that too many people are being denied basic acts of sympathy and kindness whilst going through treatment.
Both Sir David’s words and these new findings should serve as a useful reminder to us all in the Labour Party that getting the NHS ‘right’ isn’t just about making sure that an organisation under a lot pressure is able to deliver the best medical treatment to people when they need it. It is also about that organisation making sure it treats patients with dignity and respect throughout their care pathway including their time in hospital.
When we hear about heartbreaking stories of neglect and abuse it is hard not to be compelled by the importance of this issue. Such as the case of Bridie Rees, the 92-year-old dementia patient who, it was revealed last month, was slapped,
taunted and verbally abused by her nurse.
There are also wider consequences to treating people with a lack of compassion when in hospital. There is a growing body of evidence which shows that negative emotional experiences in hospital can have a real impact on someone’s physical recovery or health. For example, if people who have a number of different illnesses are engaged with and feel positive about their treatment, they’re more likely to keep taking their medication and to use preventative services such as screening in the future [2].
And crucially for Labour, this is an issue which understandably matters to the electorate. Macmillan’s survey also shows that two-thirds of the public believe that being treated with dignity and compassion by NHS staff is as important as getting the best medical treatment [3]. Closer to home, I am continually reminded of how important this is to my constituents, whether they’re staying in hospital themselves or looking after a loved one. We all want to be treated as human beings. And this is a perfectly reasonable expectation that should be delivered as a matter of course.
The Labour Party has taken significant steps in prioritising compassion in the NHS through our whole-person approach to healthcare. People with long-term conditions want to have their emotional needs met as well as their physical ones. They want to be treated as a human being, not a set of symptoms. The time is right for us to build on this work and ensure treating people with dignity and respect continues to be a fundamental part of implementing John Oldham’s review into the health and social care system which is at the heart of Labour’s manifesto for 2015.
A key way of doing this is to make sure that frontline staff have the support they need to do the difficult job of caring for people in hospital. Research shows that if staff are over worked, lack the right training and don’t have emotional support themselves then it is the patient care which suffers. Cancer patients are up to eighteen times more likely to receive poor care where staff have suffered high levels of discrimination or poor leadership for instance [4].
We also know that frontline staff in the NHS work extremely hard with little time to spare, to reflect on their practice or attend training and development programmes. Meanwhile managers are wrestling with tight targets and even tighter budgets. It is us, the politicians and policy makers, who have the opportunity and responsibility to ensure NHS staff get the recognition and support they need to deliver better care. Politicians must ensure that time to access training to deliver care with dignity and respect is engrained in staff schedules. NHS hospitals could be required to publish action plans which address weaknesses in staff engagement. These are the sort of policies that will build on our positive legacy and ensure all patients across the NHS are treated with compassion. Now with a general election approaching fast this is the perfect time to commit to achieving this.
Notes
[1] Macmillan Cancer Support/ You Gov online poll of 2,454 GB adults aged 18+ Fieldwork undertaken 1-5th August. Survey results have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults. 39% figure is based on those who said they or someone they know had been in hospital in the last five years (75% of the total survey sample, 1,841 GB adults 18+).
[2] BMJ Open 2013;3:e001570 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001570
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/e001570.full
[3] Macmillan Cancer Support/ You Gov online poll of 2,454 GB adults aged 18+ Fieldwork undertaken 1-5th August. Survey results have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults
[4] The relationship between cancer patient experience and staff survey results, Picker Institute Europe (30 July 2013). Picker Institute Europe was commissioned by Macmillan Cancer Support to investigate the relationship between the results for the Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) and the NHS Staff Survey. The data were from the 2011 CPES and the 2011 NHS Staff Survey. See here for the full report.