Abstract
In a country renowned for its contribution to the establishment of nursing as a profession, we are reeling from yet another report of poor care. TheUK Health Service Ombudsman report ‘Care and compassion?’ detailed 10 investigations into the care of older people in the National Health Service (NHS). The report discussed the absence of the most fundamental aspects of care for older people. The journalist, Jenni Russell, recently shared her experiences of the NHS in a Sunday newspaper. She described how a friend’s father had moved ‘from an environment where staff were rude and mean to a micro civilisation where the ethos was kindness. ‘‘Honestly, he genuinely felt loved there’’’. Russell described the activities that contributed to this elderly gentleman feeling loved. She wrote ‘The nurses mushed up his food so that he could eat despite his mouth cancer; they were cheerful and tactful about his need for bedpans and bed baths; they talked to him with affection, took messages and rang his family with bulletins whenever they were asked to, even in the middle of the night. Even though he died from a hospital infection, the family has no regrets.’