We're holding our very first Schwartz* Rounds at CHFT next Thursday 24th January. It's a structured forum where colleagues from any role across our Trust can come together to discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in healthcare.

The aim is to understand the challenges and rewards intrinsic to providing care, not to solve problems or to focus on the clinical aspects of patient care.

Our initial event themed as "The patient I'll never forget", will be facilitated by our Director of Pyschology Services Prasadu, along with Psychologist Hannah Gormley in Discussion Rooms 1 and 3 at HRI Learning Centre. 

Lunch will be provided between 12 midday and 12.30 when the session will start promptly (and last for an hour) - so please arrive on time. No need to book a spot, but we do ask you to be seated by 12.30pm please.

The Rounds can help colleagues feel more supported in their jobs, allowing them the time and space to reflect on their roles. Evidence shows those who attend feel less stressed and isolated, with increased insight and appreciation for each other’s roles. They also help to reduce hierarchies between staff and to focus attention on relational aspects of care.

The origins of Schwartz Rounds

In 1994 a health attorney called Ken Schwartz was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.  During his treatment, he found that what mattered to him most as a patient were the simple acts of kindness from his caregivers, which he said made “the unbearable bearable.”  Before his death, he left a legacy for the establishment of the Schwartz Center in Boston, to help to foster compassion in healthcare.

He said "I have learned that medicine is not merely about performing tests or surgeries, or administering drugs… For as skilled and knowledgeable as my caregivers are, what matters most is that they have empathized with me in a way that gives me hope and makes me feel like a human being, not just an illness".