and social care in the United Kingdom are constantly changing and evolving. Government policy, technological advancement, demographics, patterns of disease and life expectancy all play a part in the everchanging demands on healthcare and social care. These demands are faced by the professionals who support individuals and groups in healthcare and social care settings. What is constant amongst all this change is the commitment to always deliver excellent care.
Yellow Flag Beliefs and values
Source: National Health Service (2016). Public Domain
The 6Cs of nursing arose out of a need to ensure that high standards of care were consistently delivered. This was in the wake of damming reports of care from the Frances Report (Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust 2013) and the Cavendish Review in the same year, which highlighted failings in the delivery of care and the subsequent lack of public confidence in the services (Department of Health 2013). The Chief Nursing Officer for England and the Director of Nursing for the Department of Health, Public Health England, identified the core values that underpin nursing care:
Care
Compassion
Competence
Communication
Courage
Commitment
Each value is equal, not one is more important than the other. They focus on putting the person being cared for at the heart of the care they are given. Figure 3.2 shows the person at the heart of the 6Cs. Nurses have been praised for their application and leadership in applying the 6Cs in their everyday encounters with patients, and the inherent values have been rolled out to all staff who engage in healthcare and social care. Figure 3.3 highlights the person at the heart of the 6Cs.
Supporting Evidence Clinical Leaders Network 2014
The 6Cs belong to everyone working in the healthcare and social care services. They belong to all health and care staff from nurses, midwives, doctors, porters, care staff, physiotherapists, dieticians and managers, both clinical and non‐clinical, to executive Boards and commissioning Board.)
Source: http://www.cln.nhs.uk/6csforeveryone/ (accessed September 2019
Figure 3.3 The person is at the heart of the 6Cs.
Care
Often described as the core activity in healthcare and social care, the concept of care can be difficult to pinpoint. When asked to define what nurses do, for example, the response is often that they care for people. While this is true, it is a very narrow idea of what caring is. In this text, there is a unit which focuses on the ‘care and support with hygiene and the maintenance of skin integrity’. This implies that caring is related to physical aspect of hands‐on support; however, if one acknowledges the therapeutic nature of care, as described earlier in this chapter, there is a suggestion of the unique bond that nurses and individuals have in the delivery of care. Indeed, when supporting hygiene and skin integrity needs, the nurse is delivering support within all the domains of health: physical, psychological, social, spiritual, mental, sexual and societal health. Care is overarching in this sense and cannot work in isolation without input from the other Cs. People should be able to trust in the care that is delivered, and care should be timely, respectful, and competently delivered, with the person at the core of all interactions.
Orange Flag
Touch point
People should be able to trust in the care that is delivered, and care should be timely, respectful, and competently delivered, with the person at the core of all interactions.
Compassion
When we show compassion, we are demonstrating not only empathy, respect and dignity but also an overwhelming desire to relieve or intervene in another’s distress or suffering. Ballett and Campling in 2011 discussed the idea of compassion as emotional kindness. They assert that kindness is a natural response that drives people to pay attention to each other, to understand another’s needs and to do well for others. This idea was supported by Meredith et al. (2018) who studied the emotional needs of patients following heart attack. The study eloquently draws from the narrative of patients and members of the multidisciplinary team to highlight examples of emotional kindness to support emotional healing. Healing in this respect is focused on the psychosocial aspects of care. Emphasis is put on the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in healthcare and social care staff. They state that ‘a fundamental aspect promoting enhanced social support was the emotional intelligence of health professionals’.
Developing EI helps the nursing associate to have a more positive attitude to care, and those with a high level of EI demonstrate more ease in establishing relationships and a higher level of adaptability. Healthcare and social care workers who recognise subtle changes in a person’s behaviour, stress levels or demeanour can intervene with compassion to emotionally support patients in their care.
Blue Flag Relationships
Compassionate care
An elderly patient admitted to an elderly care ward at 2 a.m. for end‐of‐life care sadly passes away within hours of admission. The family do not speak English and are understandably distressed. The nursing associate caring for the patient is unable to access an interpreter to help him understand the family’s wishes. He contacts the senior nurse on call to ask for support and advice. The senior nurse makes several phone calls to other departments to locate a professional who can converse with the family. A nurse on another ward who is finishing her shift who can communicate with the
