A campaign to improve fundamental care in the UK

How would you describe the standards of nursing care this organisation provides?

✔✔✔ very high✔✔ high✔ fair or average✗ could do better✗✗ quite low✗✗✗ very low or dangerous

Care deficit in UK – top complaints:

1] Staff fail to communicate

2] Staff fail to help patients go to the toilet

3] Staff leave patients in pain

4] Staff don’t help patients to eat & drink

The ‘Care’ Challenge

Communicate with compassion

Assist with toileting, ensuring dignity

Relieve pain effectively

Encourage adequate nutrition

Campaign launch

Who is the campaign for?

The campaign is for patients and nursing staff.

Patients and relatives can use the Care challenge as a checklist to describe good or sub-standard care.

Nursing staff can use the Care challenge to highlight obstacles to delivering fundamental care, for example the impact of inadequate staffing on patient care

Our own Care challenge • The campaign is asking all care organisations to

sign up to the Care Challenge

• That means all chief executives, nursing and

medical directors as well as chairs of non-

executive teams

• In signing up they commit to providing and

promoting an environment that enables care

teams to deliver the 4 elements of the Care

challenge

How could we meet the Care challenge?

Communicate with compassion

Assist with toileting, ensuring dignity

Relieve pain effectively

Encourage adequate nutrition

10 Priorities for Action

1. Reduce paperwork burden on staff

2. Make patient care our core focus

3. Recognise inadequate staffing levels as an indicator of poor care

4. Enhance support for ward + team managers

5. Recognise the value of registered nurses

continued…

6. Build resilience in nurses to prevent burnout

7. Encourage and expect all staff to whistleblow or ‘speak up’ when they have a concern

8. Encourage improvements in staff training

9. Set explicit standards for care and staff behaviour

10.Promote nurse leaders – good role models

How can I get involved?

www.thecarecampaign.co.uk

Our Call to CARE