Recently I had the privilege of attending the award ceremony for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Doctors from twenty countries were receiving awards. They were representative of different societies and faiths brought together because of their common aim to serve humanity.
The ceremony linked the past to our present and future by considering the achievements of those who have gone before us which provided the stepping stones to what we can achieve today in relation to health care. It brought together different generations. Most importantly the need for compassion, to listen, to see people as individuals were all emphasised. Advances in techniques and technology are not substitutes for kindliness which must be inherent in all care.
These are values we must espouse in delivering care wherever it is given or received remembering that we are first a person and then symptoms and frailty.
Maureen O’Neill
July 2015