More than 100 NHS organisations – comprising more than 500,000 staff who between them care for millions of patients – are joining a massive movement launched by a terminally ill doctor from the north of England. The collective, ‘big bang’ launch is happening today - 2nd February.

The ‘Hello my name is…’ campaign was created by Dr Kate Granger, a young hospital consultant from Yorkshire who works in elderly care, to improve the patient experience not only here in the UK, but across the world. Kate became frustrated with the number of staff who failed to introduce themselves to her when she was in hospital. Her campaign, started on social media platform Twitter has inspired nurses, doctors, therapists, receptionists, porters, domestics and staff in all roles.

The campaign is simple – reminding staff to go back to basics and introduce themselves to patients properly. Kate talks about this as “the first rung on the ladder to providing compassionate care” and sees it as the start of making a vital human connection, helping patients to relax, and building trust. Feedback from patients across the country shows how vital this is to them, saying that the smallest things make the biggest difference.

The campaign is being endorsed by an increasing number of well-known figures including David Cameron, Jeremy Hunt, the Countess of Wessex, Bob Geldof and Drew Barrymore.

The first organisations to get involved in the mass launch were connected through adoption of Listening into Action (LiA)® - a radical programme developed by Edinburgh-based husband-and-wife team, Hannah and Gordon Forbes at Optimise Limited, to shake things up and get a fundamental shift in ways of working across the NHS. It focuses removing bureaucracy and empowering staff ‘at the coalface’ to improve patient care in their own areas.

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals – where Kate is now working – are a Listening into Action (LiA) Trust and their own launch of ‘Hello my name is…’ was a catalyst. “We thought it would be good to invite other Trusts in the network to launch on the same day, and it spread like wildfire from there” says Hannah Forbes. The first Trusts signed up, and this momentum from this was used to ‘fuel the spread’ to a massive 100 organisations within just two weeks, making this probably the biggest and fastest growing movement around improving patient care that the NHS has ever seen.

These Trusts are now collaborating, sharing ideas, and comparing notes as they go – forming a strong network which will massively boost compassionate care for patients across the UK.

Kate said: “I'm incredibly excited about bringing #hellomynameis to Mid Yorkshire Hospitals and even more excited about the collaborative launch of the campaign across the Listening into Action (LiA) network and beyond. I think the main messages from the campaign about high quality communication and always treating our patients as people with respect and dignity fit perfectly within the Trust's core values. I really hope my legacy will be exactly that, putting compassionate practice right at the heart of healthcare delivery every single day."

Hannah Forbes, one of the creators of Listening into Action (LiA)® and Managing Director at Optimise Limited says: “Kate’s campaign is so important and we wanted to help. We work with a lot of NHS Trusts across the country. Inviting them – and others – to launch their own campaigns on the same day so there is a ‘big bang’ impact, and being able to connect them up so they can learn from each other just made sense. The way it has taken off is incredible”.

You can see more about Dr Granger’s campaign at http://hellomynameis.org.uk/home and on Twitter #hellomynameis

List of Participating NHS Organisations

Aintree University Hospital NHS FT

Barnet, Enfield & Haringey MH NHS Trust
Bedford Hospital NHS Trust
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Berkshire Healthcare NHS FT
Birmingham and Solihull MH NHS FT
Bradford District Care NHS Trust
Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Central London Community Health NHS Trust
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Coventry and Warwick Partnership NHS Trust
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
Cumbria Partnership NHS FT
Cwm Taf University Health Board

Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Devon Partnership NHS Trust
Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

East Cheshire NHS Trust
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
East Midlands Ambulance NHS Trust
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust
Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Health Education England
Health Education Yorkshire and the Humber
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Hounslow & Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Humber NHS Foundation Trust

Isle of Wight NHS Trust

James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust
Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

NHS England
NHS Highland
NHS Scotland
NHS Wales
North Bristol NHS Trust
North Cumbria University Hospitals
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
Northern Ireland Health and Social Care System
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Public Health Wales

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, University of Manchester
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust
St George's Healthcare NHS Trust
Sussex Community NHS Trust
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Tameside NHS Foundation Trust
Taunton and Somerset NHS FT
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS FT

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Wirral Community NHS Trust
Wirral University Teaching Hospital
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Yorkshire Ambulance Service