Holistic Kindness in Care

The concept of The Edith Ellen Foundation was based on seeking the delivery of a great individual personal care experience every time, from within a nursing and care culture where all are dedicated to exceptional skills in personal approaches to kindness, respect, compassion, listening and understanding.

The Edith Ellen Foundation sought a wide perspective of views on care, and listened to what people were telling us. We analysed all the relevant Statutory Care Legislation, Safeguarding Requirements, Guidelines and Reports, and researched a broad spectrum of documented nursing and care systems here in the UK and overseas. To be able to bring together a practical support and to provide a positive legacy for care today and for the future.

The Foundation began to develop a practical concept that would bring all that was good in care together, and gradually the emerging format for Holistic Kindness in Care was show to make a positive and maintainable difference to the way care was delivered and received.
Though the Foundation’s Kindness Audit, it recognised that to have a genuine receipt of Holistic Kindness in Care, it relies on effective and attentive management and staff teams working together in trust and relationships that stimulate the same vision and goals for delivering excellent care. Where the care environment encourages:

• Leadership that connects, communicates and displays presence and harmony working alongside staff teams
• Training, education and development that provides unrestricted confidence, support and accomplished holistic skills, attitudes and personal approaches for staff to make a positive difference to people coping with their surrounding care
• Support and confidence from a work environment that is dedicated and open to consistent improvement, responsibility and performance for staff to develop professionally
• A healthy and robust respect for valuing, supporting, engaging and motivating all staff that boost and builds staff moral and self-satisfaction, and a thoughtful reflection from staff teams on understanding their caring purpose
• Beliefs that everyone delivering and receiving care is special; that care is determined to show a unified commitment to emphatic understanding and mediation for people’s feelings, and a management leadership and staff culture that links quality of care to the benefits for all. Through kindness, respect, compassionate, and unequivocal listening and understanding.

Once the methodical process in the Kindness Audit truly identified the internal and external barriers that impact on the delivery of a good care experience every time, the Foundation went on to establish a practical mechanism that would be instrumental in providing skills in outstanding care. One which would deliver outcomes of best practice, and approaches and attitudes that understands and supports peoples complete holistic care needs through Kindness in Care.

The Foundation looked towards a very thoughtful and perceptive review that within standard of nursing and care services would revitalise care and raise the profile of great care givers and which offers fresh solutions to improve care outcomes. It is championing:

• Nursing and care who endorse a unified leadership commitment to shared team work dedicated to continually preventing the people they are there to serve living in any fear or harm from bullying, intimidation or retribution.
• Connected and empowered communities working together to endorse the rights of people’s voices to be heard and who create equal relationships, everyone’s social inclusion and inspire clear understanding and alliances between all those involved.
• A proactive restructuring of services that support and endorse those caring people who came into caring primarily to dedicate their lives and commitment to looking after people, and which does not undervalue quality healthcare staff’s capabilities and professionalism.
• A culture change towards attitudes that are trustworthy in their dedication to kindness, and who endorse an unfailing welcoming, safe, happy and relaxing environment for all those experiencing nursing and care, at all times.

Thereby the Foundation is ensuring Holistic Kindness in Care is provided with the highest standard of value, respect and compassion in every pathway for our elderly, frail and vulnerable members of our communities, and for their paid care workers.