Mandate specific communication skills training for professionals caring for children and parents

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Please see our response to Recommendations 1-4, above.

The GMC’s generic professional capabilities framework sets out the essential generic capabilities needed for safe, effective and high quality medical care in the UK. An example of how this framework approaches the skills to communicate with parents and children is the capability around dealing with complexity and uncertainty where doctors in training must demonstrate that they can adapt management proposals and strategies to patients at extremes of age, which includes neonates and children.

Doctors must also develop high levels of communication and interpersonal skills with patients, relatives, carers, guardians and others demonstrating that they can communicate effectively and be able to share decision making, while maintaining appropriate situational awareness, professional behaviour and professional judgement. Domain 2 of the GMC guidance “Good Medical Practice” also sets out expectations with regards to communication. It recommends that when communicating with those close to a patient, medical professionals must be considerate and compassionate.

Comprehensive e-learning modules are in place to ensure that healthcare professionals are trained to communicate with parents and children e.g. Shared Decision-Making and Handling difficult situations with compassion.

The Government agreed with this recommendation.

In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said that healthcare professionals would be trained in communication skills and this would be achieved through changes in basic training and continuing professional development.