What matters to you? Not, What's the matter with you? A reflection on what matters to you day 2017

‘What matters to you?’ – A simple and universally applicable question. It doesn’t matter whether you are a patient, a carer, a family member, a member of the public or a member of staff, it asks; what matters to you as a person? What is important for you? It highlights what the priorities are for people in their lives.

This is helpful for caring for people because it lets clinicians and other staff develop relationships and understand what people want to prioritise. This can inform medical treatment, and ensures staff can deliver high quality care.

What is high quality care? It should be safe, effective and person centred. High quality care is partly about the treatment people receive, how it is delivered and ensuring that it is in a safe, clean environment. The extent to which care is effective and person centred depends upon understanding what is important to people receiving care. One person’s idea of effective treatment may be another person’s nightmare, so it is incredibly important that we always ask.

Here are a few clips from Executive Medical Director, Tracey Gillies and Chief Quality Officer, Simon Watson, telling us what matters to them and highlighting the importance of this question:

What matters to our staff in NHS Lothian? – It is important as an employer that we understand what our employees value. We know that we have an incredible workforce that regularly goes above and beyond to deliver amazing care, so it is essential that we also look after their needs. One of the key aspects of delivering high quality services is that staff feel listened to and trusted; asking them what matters to them is one way of establishing this feeling of caring and trust. We want to value and nurture our workforce to develop the leaders of tomorrow, which is essential for steering NHS Lothian through future challenges. And there will be challenges… we need a workforce that is empowered, flexible and unafraid to try things and maybe sometimes get it wrong.

Here is a clip from some staff members telling us what matters to them on What Matters to You day at the Western General Hospital: