We’re providing more support to staff dealing with traumatic incidents by introducing ‘kind hearts’, staff trained in offering psychological first aid to colleagues.

Starting in our Critical Care department, kind hearts, who are staff across a range of roles including consultants, healthcare assistants and nurses, will provide peer support to colleagues during difficult times. This could include the loss of a young patient, or a sudden or unexpected patient death.

Ruth Dando, our lead nurse in critical care, has been the force behind introducing the initiative, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the impact difficult times can have on our mental health.

Ruth said: “Staff in critical care can experience higher rates of trauma, especially during stressful times, and it can be cumulative. The impact of Covid has been considerable.

“Kind hearts will provide support in the moment – they are someone to talk to in confidence and will help colleagues to resolve issues by providing empathy and understanding. The peer element, that they are critical care staff who know what it’s like, is key. They will also help us to learn from incidents.”

So far, 27 critical care staff have attended a two-day training course, run by Megan Joffe, a clinical and occupational psychologist, to become kind hearts.

We now plan to roll out the kind hearts initiative across other departments in our hospitals to ensure more staff can benefit from this support.

Critical care consultant Mandeep Phull is one of the kind hearts. She said: “I am honoured. When I first heard about this project it was music to my ears.

“During my training I could see this was an unmet need and Covid highlighted it as well. I’ve been through awful experiences and have gone to colleagues to talk it through. I know if I’ve been through it, others are having similar experiences. I’m really looking forward to seeing it working and the initial learning curve where we’ll be able to see what we can do better. The best thing about debriefing straight after a traumatic event is it can help stop you taking it home and carrying it with you.”

Pictured top is Ruth Dando, lead nurse, with some of the first kind hearts (l-r): Brigid Sharkey, dietician, Maria Colomo, consultant, Mandeep Phull, consultant, and Angelyn Virtucio, ward clerk.