Poppy’s Promise is based on four care principles:
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Compassion – showing kindness
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Acknowledgement – recognising a patient’s feelings
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Respect – valuing their opinion
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Empowerment – involving patients in their care
“It’s seeing the person, not the diagnosis. It’s someone coming into a room holding your hand, someone acknowledging the fact that this is difficult for you,” said Katie.
Even in the midst of her poor care at the time of her daughter’s death, Katie, 41, vividly remembers one midwife who showed some compassion.
“She came in and said, ‘how are you doing? I just want to hug you.’
“She sat with me and she cried with me and she said, ‘this should never have happened,’ and that will always stay with me because it’s exactly what I needed at that point.”
At the time of Poppy’s death, SaTH was in the middle of a large maternity inquiry.
The review found that 201 babies and nine mothers might have survived with better care.
As part of its improvement programme, the trust is now rolling out Poppy’s Promise to all 8,000 staff.
As well as reminding its existing employees of the principles of compassionate care, the trust has embedded a question about it into its recruitment processes.
The most important part of the training is “to remind me that we are here on a woman’s journey, they are not on our journey,” says Tasha Simmons, a midwifery ward manager at the trust.
“They don’t need to know that I’ve answered three emergency bells this morning, that’s not important to them.
“What’s important is I’m fully present with them to support them in their experience, with kindness and compassion.”
No-one starts a shift intending to provide care that is lacking in compassion.
The problem, say staff, is the pressure they are under – from the sheer number of people in Accident and Emergency to the complexity of many of the patients in hospital.
Remembering to treat each person with kindness in those circumstances can be a challenge, said Dr Adrian Marsh, an emergency medicine consultant at the Princess Royal Hospital.
There is a “high risk of emotional and compassion fatigue. Day in, day out we have a significant amount of competing demands,” he said.
“But there’s been some research done that actually demonstrates if people are treated with compassion and empathy, they have less complications, [their] outcomes are better.”
Poppy’s parents say that other NHS organisations and some universities have been in touch to explore whether they can incorporate Poppy’s Promise into their teaching programme.
Their goal is to embed compassionate care throughout the health service.