What's love got to do with it?

During my regular mid week date with One Born Every Minute last week, there was a moment that got me thinking about what part love plays in health care.

Shortly after giving birth to a baby boy, one of the new mums seemed flustered when the attending midwife reached over and embraced her with a kiss on the cheek, telling her that she was proud of her. It was intimate, warm and loving and not something I've seen happen during any other labour featured on the show. It’s certainly not something you'd expect from other health care professionals, a kiss and a cuddle from the surgeon who'd just removed your kidney stones would be fairly unusual.

This may not fit with everyone's definition of love, but in my interpretation it is without doubt a loving and affectionate gesture and behaviour that falls outside of the standard role of the midwife. I’m sure it’s more a reflection of the midwives personality than the circumstances, but it got me thinking about the part that love has to play in health care.

People often talk about their professional personas and how much they differ from the personalities they express outside of work. Acting 'professionally' has connotations of suppressing the softer side of your character and portraying a more corporate, task focussed demeanour. But in a world where teachers are warned that hugging a crying child who has fallen in the play ground is acting outside of 'professional boundaries', are we forgetting how important it is to be human at work?

In the report we released this time last year, it couldn't have been more conclusive that the attitudes of staff and a lack of care and compassion were the most frequent causes for complaint or concern for patients of our health service. The same is true for compliments; what people are most thankful for when receiving health care is feeling like the staff cared about them.

So people certainly notice and appreciate kindness, affection and loving behaviour but is there any evidence to suggest that this has any impact on health outcomes?

The King's Fund Point of Care programme(2009) noted that:

'Research evidence suggests that compassion affects the effectiveness of treatment. For example, patients who are treated by a compassionate caregiver tend to share more information about their symptoms and concerns, which in turn yields more accurate understanding and diagnoses (Epstein et al, 2005).

'In addition, since anxiety and fear delay healing (Cole-King and Harding, 2001), and compassionate behaviour reduces patient anxiety (Gilbert and Procter, 2006), it seems likely that compassionate care can have positive effects on patients' rate of recovery and ability to heal.'

It's clear that experiencing compassionate care, and in this context love, from health care staff matters enormously to patients, both in shaping their impression of health services and in their recovery.

For staff, showing compassion to people at their most unwell or vulnerable is often at the heart of their motivation for joining the NHS. It's my impression from reading the stories we receive that the majority of staff are striving to show patients the affection and kindness that makes all the difference, but that staffing issues sometimes get in the way. So how can we help to ensure staff always feel comfortable and capable of delivering this level of care?

The King's fund paper goes on to suggest that:

'In the practical circumstances in which staff caring for patients feel under pressure, and experience themselves as having very little time, it is often difficult to do just that one thing for the patient that makes her or him feel cared for. Enabling staff to feel and be compassionate towards patients in their care, at all times, requires action on multiple levels.

One of the most powerful resources that healthcare professionals consistently cite is patients' stories.

Every day here at Patient Opinion we continue to make available stories from patients that detail how it feels when compassion is lacking and what truly compassionate care looks like. I'm reminded of a beautiful quote from a story we received some time ago which recorded a moment between a member of care staff and the author's nan:

'One day I heard one of the staff, Tracy, talking to my nan as they were bathing her. Tracy was lovely with her and so caring and sensitive - I can't imagine it's easy to bathe a grown person. Tears came to my eyes, I was touched by the care and respect demonstrated. No one knew I was close to the bathroom door and could overhear what was being said, this wasn't a demonstration put on for my benefit.'

Thinking back to the midwife on One Born Every Minute, her attitude, warmth and willingness to give a little bit of herself makes me hopeful. The interaction between her and the new mum on the bed depicted everything that I know to be the right way to treat a person and I'm reassured to see that either in line with or in spite of policy, treating a patient with love prevails.