Compassion training for doctors on how to talk to their patients
- Sep 20, 2016
- EmmaArnold
Thousands of doctors and nurses are being trained to improve their communication skills to patients.
NHS medical director, Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, said doctors need to treat patients as their equals by having conversations with them rather than lecturing patients.
The courses in compassion come after research showed one in six NHS patients have suffered as a result of poor communication with health workers.
Hannah Bottomley, clinical negligence solicitor at PotterReesDolan, said:
From my experience of dealing with catastrophic injuries associated with clinical negligence I have found that in many cases one of the first criticism is the failure by the medical professional to take a full and detailed history from the patient
I look forward to seeing whether or not this scheme gets rolled out to the whole of the UK and will await with interest the results of any updating studies focusing on the impact of effective communication.
The national plan follows pilot scheme where more than 2,000 doctors and nurses were sent on a two-day training course.
The two year study by Patient Opinion found the main complaints from patients were the lack of respect and having their concerns dismissed.
One study also found that the average doctor interrupted their patients 12 seconds after they began speaking.
Dr Penny Newman, former GP running the scheme said how people need to feel listened to and how simply handing out advice doesn't work. She said:
The way we talk to patients is fundamentally important. If we don't get it right we can make mistakes and we can miss an opportunity to change patients' behaviour.