Professor Paul Crawford

 Damning reports highlight unsatisfactory or non-compassionate ‘care’  Winterbourne, Mid- Staffs, etc.

© The Times 2011

 Compassion as sensitivity to the suffering of others with a deep commitment to try to relieve it  Need to develop a ‘compassionate mentality’ for self and others (Gilbert, 2009)

 Loss of human dignity (Darzi, 2008)  Compassion fatigue / moral slide (Gilbert, 2009)  Cold clinic (Crawford & Brown, 2010)

In delivering health care services we can forget to warm up the communicative space, our language and care processes

Bureaucracy trumping humanity? Tick box regimes?

 Brevity in health care interventions remains a high priority  ‘High speed society’  ‘social acceleration’ (Rosa & Scheurman, 2008)  ‘Blip Culture’  (Alvin Toffler, 1981)

Robert Francis Inquiry report  Assuring the quality of senior NH ◦ Staff shortage (nursing) ◦ Low morale in difficult circumstances ◦ Disturbing lack of compassion ◦ Bullying ◦ Ignoring whistle blowing ‘I heard so many stories of shocking care. These patients were not simply numbers they were husbands, wives, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents. They were people who entered Stafford Hospital and rightly expected to be well cared for and treated. Instead, many suffered horrific experiences that will haunt them and their loved ones for the rest of their lives.’

 Complexity of compassion  Need for whole system compassionate design (3 P’s) ◦ Places ◦ Processes ◦ People  Bi-directional compassion

 Standing up for/ Pleading for/ Speaking for  Actively working to help others ‘stand up’  Influencing political process  Securing social justice  Defending the rights of others  Self, group, peer, legal, ‘best interests’ approaches

 Googled ‘Advocacy service uk’  Googled 1: ‘Find an Advocate This resource is no longer available.’  Googled 2: you/Pages/Advocacy.aspxhttp:// you/Pages/Advocacy.aspx ‘Advocacy organisations Some local councils have their own advocacy services.’  Googled 3: My postcode: ‘We are sorry but we do not currently provide the service you are looking for in your area’  ‘Unfortunately, not all areas have established mental health advocacy groups’ (MIND)

 Crawford, P. (2011) NHS failures in care for the elderly demand prompt remedies. Letter to the Editor. The Times, Friday October  Crawford, P. & Brown, B. (2011) Fast healthcare: Brief communication, traps and opportunities. Patient Education & Counselling 82,  Brown, B., Crawford, P. & Carter, R. (2006) Evidence-based Health Communication. Open University Press: Maidenhead.  Crawford, P., Brown, B & Bonham, P. (2006) Communication in Clinical Settings. Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham.  Crawford, R., Brown, B. & Crawford, P. (2004) Storytelling in Therapy. Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham.  Crawford, P., Brown, B. & Nolan, P. (1998) Communicating Care: The Language of Nursing. Stanley Thornes: Cheltenham.  Crawford, P., Nolan, P. & Brown, B. (1995) Linguistic entrapment: medico-nursing biographies as fictions. Journal of Advanced Nursing 22:  Crawford, P. & Hallawell, B. (2011) Where is the love? Learning Disabilities Practice 14 (6): 9.  Crawford, P., Gilbert, P., Gilbert, J. & Gale, C. Practical compassions: Repertoires of practice and compassion talk in acute mental health. Sociology of Health and Illness. In press.  Crawford, P., Gilbert, P., Gilbert, J., Gale, C. & Harvey, K. The language of compassion in acute mental health care. Qualitative Health Research. In press.