Compassion fatigue in the NHS or burnout? | Letter

Your article raises key issues about the mental wellbeing of those working in the NHS (Seven in 10 GPs in UK suffer from compassion fatigue, survey finds, 2 January). But we should be cautious of terms like “compassion fatigue”. Our research showed that it is not staff compassion that is fatigued – they would love to offer better services – but that they are burnt out and angry. This is not caused by the suffering of their patients but the stress of working in poorly managed, poorly supported and overdemanding care systems. This is clarified towards the end of the article.

So it is important to identify the motivations behind mental health problems among clinical staff. It is far from compassion fatigue, it is quite the opposite. It is wanting to do so much more that drives people into feeling that they are failing their patients.

It is rare for clinicians to feel fatigued by suffering, rather it is the excessive and unrealistic expectations from themselves and others to relieve suffering in such limiting contexts that drives a sense of exhaustion and failure.
Prof Paul Gilbert
College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of Derby