25th May 2021
There is an expanding evidence base for the use of compassion to transform healthcare environments for health professionals and students and indeed for us all.
So how do we promote well being through the scientific understanding and application of compassion in all domains of human life for the benefits of us all?
Michael West CBE joined The King’s Fund as a Senior Fellow in 2013. He is Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at University College, Dublin, and Emeritus Professor at Aston University, where he was formerly Executive Dean of Aston Business School.
He graduated from the University of Wales in 1973 and received his PhD in 1977. He has authored, edited and co-edited 20 books and has published more than 200 articles in scientific and practitioner publications on teamwork, leadership and culture, particularly in healthcare.
He co-chaired with Dame Denise Coia, the two-year inquiry on behalf of the UK General Medical Council into the mental health and well-being of doctors Caring for Doctors, Caring for Patients (2019).
https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/caring-for-doctors-caring-for-patients_pdf-80706341.pdf
He led the review for The King’s Fund (commissioned by the RCN Foundation) into the mental health and well-being of nurses and midwives across the UK, The Courage of Compassion: Supporting Nurses and Midwives to Deliver High Quality Care (2020).
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/courage-compassion-supporting-nurses-midwives
He was appointed a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2020 for services to compassion and innovation in healthcare.
Twitter: @WestM61
Stewart Mercer is Professor of Primary Care and Multimorbidity at the University of Edinburgh, and a General Practitioner. He entered medicine as a mature student at Bristol University after an early career in basic science including PhD studies at Cambridge University, and post-doctoral research at Oxford University. After qualifying as a GP in 1997, he gained a series of CSO Fellowships to develop research skills in primary care. He was Professor of Primary Care Research at Glasgow University (2008-2018) before joining the Usher Institute in January 2019.
Stewart is the current Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care (since 2014), Adjunct Professor of Primary Care Research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (since 2008) and Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester (since 2019). He was a Visiting Professor at McMasters University in 2018 and the University of Melbourne in 2012. https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/stewart-mercer
Twitter: @Stewmercer
The University of Edinburgh Global Compassion Initiative https://www.ed.ac.uk/global-health/compassion
The purpose of the Global Compassion Initiative is to catalyse, enable and embed the evidence and practice of compassion within the University and across relationships in the city and the world.