8 July 2010

A group of leading east London health partners has joined forces with the aim of creating England’s first Centre of Excellence for Compassionate Care.

The partnership - made up of Barts and The London NHS Trust, NHS Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets Community Health Services, City University, London, Queen Mary University of London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Barts and The London Charity and East London NHS Foundation Trust - have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to fundamentally embed compassionate care in the local community in all healthcare areas.

From undergraduate teaching programmes, to community GP surgeries and health centres, through to hospital care, the partnership will work together to establish the key elements of support and learning to maximise the right environment for staff to deliver care with compassion. Through this learning the partnership will ensure that this translates into the re-design of patient pathways and education programmes for staff

It is widely acknowledged that caring and compassion can be demonstrated in practical ways through the technical care given, but compassion also goes well beyond the practical to encompass empathy, respect and recognition of the individual and involves committed dialogue with patients

Drawing on established research, which has demonstrated that the degree of compassion shown to patients during their care is an important factor in their overall experience and recovery from illness, one of the coalition’s main focuses will be to develop the philosophy of nurturing and supporting staff in order to provide compassionate care.

Contact: Press Office on 020 7480 4843 or 020 7480 4892.

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