Thursday 22 May 2025 | 11:00-12:15

Format: Olympus Forum

Stream: Leading

Content filters: Recommended for those new to quality improvement

Chair: Brigid Russell Brigid Russell Coaching Limited; Scotland

 

Theory into evidence and practice: How Kindness and the ‘What Matters to You’ social movements are changing how we do things in healthcare

In this session, we bring together two major social movements with global reach, the Conversations for Kindness and the What Matters to You (WMTY) networks. Through individual and sustained collaborative efforts, these groups are working to enhance patient and provider experience and safety through kind, careful, and human-centred care practices using education strategies, supporting organisations, and building social capital.

We will outline what we mean by kindness and discuss some of the challenging perceptions of kindness that exist. We will explore how WMTY is a powerful tool for patient and provider experience and engagement—reframing from the traditional deficit-based “what’s the matter with you” to include the personalised and human angle: “what matters to you”. We will talk about how kindness is not as simple as popular culture suggests; individual, team, and system-level challenges can impact sustainable, meaningful kindness in the workplace. Being “Kind” is not the same as being “nice”. It requires skill, courage and sometimes difficult conversations.

The conversations will highlight the crucial role of leadership and governance in building kind organisational cultures where staff and patients feel respected and listened to and what matters to them is honoured and protected. We will conclude the session with an inclusive call to action for our registrants to join our ever-expanding social movements.

Anders Vege Norwegian Directorate of Health; Norway

Bob Klaber Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust; England

Gabrielle Mathews North Central London; England

James Mountford Galileo Global Education; France

Mathieu Louiset PAQS; Belgium

Maureen Bisognano Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA

Nicki Macklin University of Auckland; New Zealand

Suzie Bailey The King’s Fund; England