Priory nurses highlight our 7Cs

The 6Cs of nursing are a mix of qualities that all nurses live by when working with service users – Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage, and Commitment. However, at Priory, our nurses go one step further and follow 7Cs , adding ‘consistency’ to the established 6Cs mix in order to provide the highest quality care for all service users.

Priory Group’s 7Cs:

Care - individuals receiving care expect it to be right for them at the time of their stay with Priory, whether long or short term. The care we deliver must be to help improve the lives of the people we care for, support and educate.

Compassion - compassion is how care is delivered through relationships based on empathy, respect and dignity and can also be defined as intelligent kindness. It is central to how people perceive the care they receive.

Competence - competence means that all those in caring roles must have the ability to understand service users’ health and social needs, and have the expertise, clinical and technical knowledge to deliver effective care and treatments based on research and evidence.

Communication - communication is central to successful caring relationships and to effective team working and is the key to an efficient working environment, with benefits for service users and staff alike. Listening is as important as what is said and done. Service users must be involved in decisions affecting their care and treatment, keeping ‘no decision about me without me’ in mind. (Liberating the NHS: No decision about me, without me; Department of Health, May 2012, London).

Courage - courage enables us to do the right thing for the service users in our care, to speak up when we have concerns and to have personal strength and vision to innovate and to embrace new ways of working.

Commitment - we need to build on the commitment set out in the Priory mission statement to take action to make the vision a reality for all and to meet challenges as they arise.

Consistency – will ensure consistent delivery of care across our service.

The Nursing Times has recognised Priory’s dedication to nursing care, and each week over the next seven weeks, a nurse from Priory will be showcased within the magazine discussing how they incorporate the 7Cs into their day-to-day work.

The first to showcase our excellent services is Ian Harris, senior nurse for the children’s unit at Priory Hospital Highbank in Bury, who discusses how he strives to ensure as much independence as possible for our service users.

Ian joined Priory in March 2013 after working in the NHS for over 10 years. He now looks after children up to the age of 18 who have long-term neurological conditions. He said: “What attracted me [to Priory] is being able to give care that is tailored to service users. We can keep them independent and doing things that they would ordinarily be able to do as children, such as going to the zoo, cinema or bowling.

“The best evidence that we are doing a great job is the low number of admissions our patients have to acute hospitals because we keep them well and give them an active life.”

Siân Wicks, Director of Corporate Assurance and Chief Nursing Officer, stated: “Our nursing strategy encompasses all four countries of the UK and we have embraced the 6Cs. Following consultation through our Group Nursing Forum and listening, we felt we needed to add our seventh C to deliver compassionate care consistently.