“I just wanted to share with you the impact your session had Carolyn on those staff fortunate enough to attend. The feedback on the day was so positive and staff from clinical and non-clinical backgrounds talked about you being inspirational. Since the session, the head of patient experience and I shared the feedback. Also, I have also been in meetings where the day has been discussed and the individuals have been sharing their learning with colleagues. The staff describe how powerful they found it, in particular allowing them to recognise how important it is for them to be considering the impact of our ‘policy and processes’ and the ‘way we do things’
Staff talked about being ‘taught’ to write and respond and behave in the way that they do and the journey you took them on allowed them to reflect how this is received by our patients and their relatives. We have had discussion around how well intentioned policies such as the Duty of Candour applied in a non-compassionate way can have a detrimental impact.
My personal reflection is that we aimed the event at staff who were implementing these processes. We will be ensuring that at the future events we have planned we have more of a mix of those who design, write and oversee the implementation of our policies as this is key to giving our staff permission to behave in a compassionate way.