'#Hello my name is...'

As part of NHS Change Day, York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has made a pledge to get onboard the '#Hellomynameis...' campaign.   

In December 2012, Dr Kate Granger was an inpatient and noticed how infrequently health care professionals introduced themselves.

Dr Granger wrote: “As a healthcare professional you know so much about your patient. You know their name, their personal details, their health conditions, and much more.

“What do we as patients know about our healthcare professionals? The answer is often absolutely nothing, sometimes it seems not even their names. The balance of power is very one-sided in favour of the healthcare professional.”

Dr Granger started a twitter campaign #hellomynameis to encourage all healthcare staff to introduce themselves to patients and to tell them their name.

Emma Day, Matron for elderly medicine at Scarborough Hospital, gave a presentation to the Board of Directors this month introducing the campaign, and it has been given the Trust's full support.

Putting patients at the centre of what we do is at the core of our organisation’s values and taking the simple step of introducing ourselves to patients by name can make all the difference in building a relationship.  

For more information visit drkategranger.wordpress.com and theothersidestory.co.uk. Follow Kate Granger on Twitter (@GrangerKate).

03 March 2014