NHS maternity services support mothers and babies before, during, and after birth, but over half are rated as not safe enough. Safety is worse for Black, Asian, and lower-income mothers, and existing solutions haven’t worked. We are preparing an NIHR programme grant application to test a system-level empathy intervention and explore what an “empathic system” in maternity services looks like. We are forming a PPI group to support the development of this application.

We need patients to help develop a single-item scale to measure empathy in healthcare. This will involve taking part in one cognitive interview (where you are given a questionnaire and asked to talk through the mental process involved in answering each question). The interview can take place face-to-face at the University of Leicester or online via Microsoft Teams. It will last no longer than 30 minutes. With your permission, we will audio-record your interview. It will then be anonymised.

What is the problem?
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) use digital tools for patient consultations more and more. This includes phone, video, or chat messaging. These work well for many patients and are important for future-proofing the NHS. But they can make it harder for HCPs to express empathy compared with face-to-face appointments. We will find out from patients and HCPs how empathy can and should be expressed in digital consultations to inform an online training package for HCPs.