Jeremy Hunt, health secretary, made a strongly worded speech last week regarding the poor care people receive from staff within the NHS, he said: “coldness, resentment, indifference, even contempt”, were deep-seated in parts.

Chief Nursing Officer, Jane Cummings, has released a three year strategy to amend the training, recruitment and appraisal of nurses to put emphasis back on the basic values and not only technical ability.  Ms Cummings wants to lead change within the nursing sector and create “a culture of compassionate care”.

In the media recently there have been many complaints about patients being neglected, treated badly, and stripped of dignity.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association has praised the renewed focus and further commented: “It is right that nurses are now trained to a higher level than ever before but compassion and dignity should be vital components of that training.  Once nurses have qualified they need to be supported and monitored throughout, and we support those moves towards appraisal of values as well as skills”.