Making compassion a core ingredient of improvement systems
Engagement surveys show a never-before-seen level of fatigue and burn-out. The last results of the National Health Service (NHS) national staff survey showed 46.8% of staff have felt unwell as a result of work-related stress in the previous 12 months. Attrition and turnover are at near all-time highs.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement suggests that one of the issues contributing to the situation is that leaders are not trained – or encouraged - to bring humanity and compassion into their management skills and improvement approaches. They ask: are we afraid of what matters?
In 2022, a group of international experts from the IHI and the Platform for Continuous Improvement of Quality of Care and Patients’ Safety in Belgium, convened to describe a new way to lead in these challenging times. They have identified the principal elements of an improvement system in the healthcare sector and built in two new components: ‘What matters to you?’ (WMTY) and compassion. They propose that this is a way to lead and think that will guide a better system of care and caring. This improvement system forms part of a person-centred approach that sets the foundation of organisational culture and enables daily improvement for patients and staff in healthcare.
The system starts with an aim, which is the definition of quality care to be achieved. In this example, it is ‘safe, efficient, reliable care and quality of life for all.’ This is supported via a continuous learning system that includes: reliable processes, improvement methods, managing variation and measurement; and a culture that supports responsibility, and teamwork. The consumer focus is underpinned by the question ‘What matters to you?’ and compassion.
As health and human services worldwide struggle to meet demand and expectations, drawing on new ways of thinking and working is essential to make significant progress toward consistently high-quality care.
All accessed 12/02/24:
Louiset M, Allwood D, Bailey S, et al. Let’s reconnect healthcare with its mission and purpose by bringing humanity to the point of care. BMJ Leader 2023;7:291– 293.