Today we’re launching SCoPE - Supporting Compassionate Practice Environments - a new framework to help teams create working environments where compassion can be sustained day to day.
SCoPE has been created in response to what nursing staff and leaders have been telling us about their working lives. It has been developed in collaboration with partners across health and care, including The King’s Fund, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and more.
This isn’t new territory - we already know how important compassionate workplace cultures are. But what we continue to hear is that while the language of compassion is well established, the conditions needed to make that happen aren’t always in place.
SCoPE is designed to address that gap.
Where this work began
This work began following RCN Congress 2023, when members called for stronger action in response to the wider issue of distress across the nursing workforce.
Our analysis identified a clear and consistent theme: creating compassionate workplaces is fundamental to supporting staff wellbeing.
The recommendations emphasised prevention, compassionate responses, support for leaders and managers, and the need for systems that enable recovery and peer support. They also reinforced that workforce wellbeing cannot be improved through individual support alone - it must be embedded in the culture and environment of support and enablement.
SCoPE builds on this work. It also draws on The Courage of Compassion 2020 report and its established autonomy, belonging and contribution (ABC) framework, alongside extensive engagement with staff and leaders and pilot work in practice settings.
It’s important to be clear about what SCoPE is - and what it isn’t. While informed by this broader work, SCoPE is not a suicide prevention intervention. It is a practice development framework, designed to help create workplace environments that are psychologically safe, sustainable, and support compassion within and amongst teams.
What the system is telling us
Across research, engagement with staff, and pilot sites, a consistent picture has emerged. Staff are not asking for more policy statements about compassion. They are asking for environments where compassion is possible and sustainable.
This includes:
- visible leadership, built on relationships and clear values
- cultures where people can speak up safely
- systems that respond humanely to difficult situations
- access to reflection, support and development
- environments that actively support wellbeing and inclusion
The SCoPE standards have been developed directly from these themes, bringing them together into a structured framework across three areas: experience, education and environment.
The reality for leaders
Leaders are working in environments that are often stretched and under constant pressure. Alongside operational demands, they are expected to maintain safe, inclusive and supportive cultures.
The feedback we received throughout the development of SCoPE highlighted that these challenges are very real. They are experienced daily, in decisions about staffing, access to learning, the handling of concerns or investigations, and how teams are supported after difficult events.
SCoPE recognises that psychological safety and compassion are not incidental. They are shaped by leadership behaviours, organisational processes, and the physical and cultural environment in which staff work.
Support, not scrutiny
A key message from our pilot work was that staff already face a high level of scrutiny. Many described the pressure associated with existing assurance and inspection processes and were clear that any new framework must not add to this burden.
SCoPE has been designed as a supportive, developmental approach. It is not:
- an inspection framework
- an accreditation or quality mark
- an assessment of organisational performance
Instead, it gives teams a practical way to reflect on their environment, identify priorities and take practical steps to strengthen workplace culture.
Why this matters now
The pressures experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic have intensified longstanding challenges within the workforce, particularly in relation to wellbeing, fatigue and sustainability The evidence is clear - staff wellbeing, workplace conditions and quality of care are closely linked.
At the same time, many of the recommendations set out in The Courage of Compassion remain only partially implemented.
SCoPE offers a practical way forward. It turns evidence and policy into something practical teams can use.
Looking ahead
SCoPE is available to support teams and organisations. Its focus is straightforward: to help create environments in which staff feel valued, supported and able to thrive
This isn’t about introducing another layer of oversight. It is about strengthening the conditions that enable compassionate workplace cultures to develop and endure.
That matters, for the workforce, for the sustainability of the profession, and ultimately for the future of health and care.
Find out more and download the SCoPE standards, and use them to start conversations within your teams about what compassionate practice environments look like in your context and where you might want to focus next.
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
