From Francis to Ockenden: How staff support can influence patient experience
27 July 2022
Ceinwen talks about the importance of staff support and patient involvement as she reflects on her time as a Point of Care Foundation Trustee.
Topics
10 years ago, I was invited to speak at an event at the King’s Fund where Robert Francis (pre-knighthood!) was appearing in his role as Chair of the Mid-Staffordshire Foundation Trust Public Inquiry. I remember nervously speaking about my experience as a patient in a room full of ‘experts’. Having dutifully read through much of the Inquiry Report the night before, one thing that struck me was, so many of the things that happened at Mid-Staffs also happened in so-called ‘good hospitals’.
I knew this because I had spent 6 months in a ‘good hospital’ and had seen some of the best – and the worst – of the NHS, often in the same ward. Having viewed things primarily through the lens of the patient, however, the Francis Report highlighted the importance of staff experience, a thought that was transformational for me.
Shortly afterwards, Jocelyn Cornwell invited me to join the Trustee Board of a new organisation that she was setting up: the Point of Care Foundation. In the last 9 years, I’ve had the pleasure of being part of the Board as we’ve weathered changes in NHS strategy and policy, seen changes in Secretaries of State, and, most recently, coped with the pandemic. I’ve also been lucky enough to be a part of some the Point of Care Foundation’s programmes and activities, including the establishment of the Heads of Patient Experience (HOPE) Network.
Being a patient is tough. I live with an immune deficiency as a result of cancer treatment. Managing my condition is often an exercise in bureaucracy and frustration, although it does mean that I’ve been able to develop good relationships with some of the medical staff tasked with keeping me going. As a Board member, I’ve tried to ensure that the voice of the patient is reflected in the Foundation’s work, and that we consider how our projects and programmes can improve things for people when they are at their most vulnerable
The barriers that our healthcare system throws up to avoid listening to patients are many and wide ranging. However, if I’ve learned one thing from my time at the Point of Care Foundation, it’s that staff and patient experience are two sides of the same coin.”
As I came to the end of my term as Trustee, the Ockenden Review into failures in maternity services was published. I found reading the report extremely difficult. This was not just because of the upsetting stories it contained, but also because I felt hugely frustrated. Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen the need for patient involvement spoken about widely, and patient experience data is collected more systematically than ever before. And yet both the Francis and Ockenden Reports demonstrate that patient voices are often ignored until it is too late.
The barriers that our healthcare system throws up to avoid listening to patients are many and wide ranging. However, if I’ve learned one thing from my time at the Point of Care Foundation, it’s that staff and patient experience are two sides of the same coin. From Schwartz Rounds to Experience-based Co-Design, the work of the Foundation provides a framework for the relational aspects of healthcare to be examined and improved. Failure to understand this element of healthcare is one reason that staff can become unhappy and unable to deliver high quality care. After all, most people start working in healthcare because they like people and they want to do something good.
I will always remember the energy and enthusiasm with which the staff of the Point of Care Foundation – led first by Jocelyn and now by the fabulous Bev Fitzsimons – have calmly and creatively sought to ensure healthcare is more compassionate and human.
During a prolonged stay in the hospital, one of my nurses told me how tough it was when patients were discharged, never to be seen again. “I always worry about what happens to them,” she told me. She had no idea whether we lived or died, and she told me how difficult that felt after caring for patients for months on end. I leave the Board knowing that there are now many ways in which nurses and other healthcare professionals can be supported, so that patients like me get the care that they need.