Building relationships to improve outcomes

At Infection Prevention 2013, the annual conference and exhibition organised by the Infection Prevention Society, Jane Cummings, the Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England spoke about NHS England’s three-year vision and strategy for nursing, midwifery and care staff, Compassion in Practice, which was published late in 2012 with the aim of ensuring that the culture of compassion is built into all areas of practice. Jane Cummings began by acknowledging the complexity of the new NHS landscape. She said: “Having worked within the NHS for many years I have never seen a time when there were more component parts to the NHS, or when it was, potentially, so complex to negotiate. However, I truly believe that the changes do re-emphasise clinical leadership – and finally put clinicians at the heart of what we do – a subject that we have talked about but only ever paid lip-service too, for so long.” She went on to emphasise the importance of looking at the new landscape as an opportunity. “It must be hoped that we use this opportunity to start to make a difference and to put ourselves, as clinicians, at the front – whether this be in a provider role, a commissioning role, or an advisory role and that we really drive home, not only the need to do what is right for our patients but to use evidence to support this and to reconfigure the services we provide.” Commenting on the important relationship between commissioners and providers, Jane Cummings said: “This is absolutely critical, as is the link with clinical support units. NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will commission care. We commission for improved outcomes and an improved patient experience. NHS England, has the ability to allocate funds either to CCGs, or directly to organisations to have a really big influence on what happens. As the Chief Nursing Officer of England, I have a professional leadership responsibility for nurses within provider organisations as well those in commissioning organisations. We now have a really good network which allows us to influence and engage.”

Minimum requirements

Although regulatory requirements need to be met, Jane Cummings believes that regulation should always be considered as a minimum requirement. It should not be acceptable to just meet regulations. If we really want the best for our patients we should be aiming higher. We need to be open, honest and transparent about what is not as good as we want it to be, and we should never just accept mediocrity.” Because the NHS landscape now consists of so many different people and bodies, Jane Cummings emphasised the importance of every individual considering where they can make the biggest impact and to target what they want to do and what that want to deliver. “It is important to develop a relationship between CCGs and providers ensuring collaborative working to determine the best patient outcomes. If we can achieve this and get through some of the organisational barriers that have existed in the past, then we can really make an impact,” she enthused. The Compassion in Practice strategy is underpinned by the idea of the 6Cs – courage, commitment, care, compassion, competence and communication – principal values which are critical to the success of the strategy and to delivering improved standards. Jane Cummings has been pleased with the way these values have been received. “I think the 6Cs are relevant to any profession. They apply to any clinician, manager or anyone that works in service provision for patients. I have heard of many organisations who have rewritten their strategy and appraisal systems and have developed this approach to the way their oganisation works, based around the 6Cs.