NHS morality and care based on compassionate values

Abstract

Comments on an article by John Cox & Revd DrAlison Gray (see record [rid]2014-32441-003[/rid]). It is difficult to disagree with the main thread of Cox & Gray’s argument that the National Health Service (NHS) as a whole has lost its grip on being person-centred in any genuine way, amidst the industrialization and authoritarian managerialism of the modern NHS. However, The author would take issue that the College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI) is being idle about the matter. Unfortunately, the response from NHS organizations (mental health and others) has not been encouraging and the award is much better used and recognized in the prison service and all sorts of different third-sector units. I believe this may be caused by a deeper malaise in the NHS, very much in line with what Cox and Gray are arguing in their paper. In short, the NHS is being run with a competitive business model to such an extreme and aggressive extent that 'soft' values such as empathy, emotional intelligence and kindness are given no force. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)