The Role of the Care and Comfort Assistant in Enhancing Quality

The role of care and comfort assistant was introduced as a twelve month pilot scheme in May 2013 at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust. The Countess of Chester’s Planned Care Division has employed six new members of staff to improve care and comfort for patients and their families.They are known within the division as the ‘Countess Six’, as their role was developed to reflect the six fundamentals of care known as the 6Cs; Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage and Commitment. Essentially a non-nursing role, the principle intent of this role is to provide care and comfort interventions for patients, focusing on spending time, talking with and helping the patient with basic comfort needs; importantly it is seen as an additional healthcare role into which the newly launched 6Cs can be embedded.