A new kindness campaign has been launched by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s (BTHFT) Chief Nurse’s team.
According to the trust, the ‘Embedding Kindness’ initiative is part of the patient experience ‘strategy’ and encourages staff to ‘promote small acts of kindness’ and ‘reflect’ on how they can create a ‘positive environment’.
A ‘short kindness programme’ is available to all trust staff, complete with a ‘kindness badge’ upon completion, and further updates expected as part of the campaign roll-out.
BTHFT has been working towards its 2017-2022 ‘Our People Strategy’ aims over the past few years.
The guiding literature includes a focus on developing a ‘modern workforce’ and a ‘strategic direction for all people-related activities’. This includes goals such as creating a ‘positive, healthy work environment’ that ‘attracts and retains the best people’, as well as providing support and development so that staff ‘excel at putting patients first’.
Developing leaders and managers that empower staff, encouraging creativity and valuing diversity, as well as providing regular feedback and a strong employee voice, have also been high on the agenda.
The results from the 2020 NHS Staff Survey, which was published at the end of last year and surveyed staff from across all the trusts, including BTHFT, included areas such as working environment in its results.
From a 0-10 rating system, BTHFT received a score of 6.0 for health and wellbeing, compared to the average of 6.1, and received a 7.9 score for a safe environment re: bullying and harassment, slightly below the average of 8.1.
However, the teaching hospitals were rated above the 7.0 average for staff engagement, with a score of 7.1, and above the average of 6.2 for morale, with a score of 6.3.
If staff, patients or visitors wish to share kindness stories or nominations, email embedding.kindness@bthft.nhs.uk, or follow the campaign on Twitter through the hashtag #embeddingkindness.
