Dr Andy Ward

Andy is an Associate Professor of Medical Education and an Honorary Senior Academic General Practitioner at the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, located within Leicester Medical School. The Centre is dedicated to revolutionising medical education by embedding empathy at the core of healthcare practice, with the ultimate goal of enhancing patient outcomes and shaping healthcare systems that are resilient and responsive to future needs.

In his role, Andy spearheads the development of innovative, evidence-based teaching interventions designed to cultivate and sustain empathy among medical students throughout their training. With extensive expertise in healthcare communication and patient-centred care, Andy has made significant contributions to the medical curriculum, ensuring that the next generation of healthcare professionals is equipped with the skills and compassion necessary to meet the evolving demands of patient care. His work has garnered international recognition, and he has presented his findings at numerous conferences around the globe.

In addition to his academic responsibilities, Andy practices as a General Practitioner at Inclusion Healthcare in Leicester. His clinical work is deeply informed by his commitment to marginalised communities, including those experiencing homelessness and seeking asylum in the UK. Andy has also led initiatives to enhance medical students' exposure to and experience in inclusion healthcare, ensuring they are prepared to address the unique challenges faced by these vulnerable populations.

Andy has been involved in research around communication skills, empathy in medical interactions and digital consultations between medical students and patients.

He has collaborated successfully with colleagues at Cambridge, St Andrews and Glasgow Medical Schools.

Please see publications list for more details.

Pankhania M, Judd O, Ward A. Otorrhoea. BMJ 2011; 342: d2299 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d2299

Hayward E, Ward A. Virtual learning communities for faculty members: does WhatsApp work? Medical Education 52(5):569 01 May 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13559

Ward A, Bethea J, Hsu R. Exploring life with a long-term condition using asynchronous online communication. Patient Education and Counseling Volume 102, Issue 12, December 2019, Pages 2325-2329 http://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2019.08.017

Ward A, Asif A, Cattermole R, Chima J, Ebbatson T, Mahi I, Richardson N, Sheikh H. Social prescribing by students: the design and delivery of a social prescribing scheme by medical students in general practice. Education for Primary Care, 31:5, 318-322. http://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2020.1799437

Cairns P, Pinker I, Ward A, Watson E, Laidlaw A. Empathy maps in communication skills training. Clinical Teacher. 2021;18:142–146. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13270

Alzeera M, Ward, A. Involving medical students in the planning and delivery of a vaccination and health screening outreach clinic. Education for Primary Care, 33:2, 113-119, 2022. http://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2021.1983732

Ward, A. Morrison, C. A collaboration on teaching communication by text. Clin Teach. 2022; 1– 5. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13498

Ward A, Critoph D, Westacott R, Williams R, Dogra N. A collaboration on teaching and assessing triadic consultation skills. PEC Innovation 2022;1:100091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecinn.2022.100091

Winter, R., Ward, A., Norman, R.I. et al. A survey of clinical empathy training at UK medical schools. BMC Med Educ23, 40 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03993-5

Ward, A. Howick, J. Teaching an empathy-focused approach to difficult consultations: a pilot session and co-production evaluation workshop. Education for Primary Care (10.08.2023) https://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2023.2241037

Ward A, Andrews L, Black A, Williamson AE. Communicating Effectively with Inclusion Health Populations: 2022 ICCH Symposium. Patient Education and Counseling. 2023 Sep 9:107977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.107977

Slavin, D., Winter, R., Ward A., Howick, J. On the need for empathy in the acute hospital setting. British Journal of Hospital Medicine. 2023 Sep 29. https://doi.org/10.12968/hmed.2023.0210

Keshtkar, L., Madigan, C.D., Ward, A., Ahmed, S., Tanna, V., Rahman, I., Bostock, J., Nockels, K., Wang, W., Gillies, C.L. and Howick, J., 2024. The Effect of Practitioner Empathy on Patient Satisfaction: A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2024 Jan 30 https://doi.org/10.7326/M23-2168

Howick J, Ward A, Papanikitas A. Just do it! Ten easy ways to enhance empathy in the consultation. British Journal of General Practice. 2024 Mar 1;74(740):124-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp24X736593 

Keshtkar, L. Ward, A. Winter, R., Leung, C., Howick, J. Does empathy decline in the clinical phase of medical education? A study of students at Leicester medical school. PEC Innovation, Vol 5, 2024, 100316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecinn.2024.100316

Howick J, Mercer S, Adams J, Levett-Jones T, Mobley W, Ward A, Winter R, Halpern J. The Leicester Empathy Declaration: A model for implementing empathy in healthcare. Patient Education and Counseling. 2024 Aug 10:108391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2024.108391

Fletcher R, Hammant A, Symes R, Turvey A, Ward A, Mahdzir A, Kumaravel B. The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum. PEC Innovation. 2024 Nov 15:100356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecinn.2024.100356

Teaching has been Andy's main focus of activity since he joined Leicester Medical School in 2005. He became clinical lead for Communication Skills in 2007 and is a Senior member of the Primary Care education team, contributing extensively to the development of teaching and the mentoring of medical students in the 3rd and 5th year of the curriculum. He became lead for the Compassionate Holistic Diagnostic Detective Course in 2016. Andy is also a member of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Management Groups. He contributes to the work of the Project Light team - enabling student placements in the homeless sector including at Inclusion Healthcare where he practices clinically as a salaried GP.

From 2018-2022 Andy was the Director of Education and Training for Lakeside Healthcare Group (LHG), the largest GP partnership in the UK. He was responsible for overseeing the development of the group's teaching and training activities. LHG hosts medical students from Leicester, Cambridge and Lincoln Medical Schools – over 200 students per year under his leadership. He introduced innovative teaching sessions on inter-professional working (with nursing students from De Montfort University), work and health, social prescribing, and homeless healthcare. Andy was also responsible for developing and delivering educational content for nurses and other allied health professionals working in the organisation

External Examiner - Brunel Medical School - Professional Skills Theme, Phase 1.

Member of Editorial Board - PEC Innovation Journal: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/pec-innovation

UK National Representative of EACH - International Association for Communication in Healthcare https://each.international/

• Global organisation dedicated to exploring and improving the ways in which healthcare professionals, patients and relatives communicate with one another
• Member of Advisory Committee
• Co-led subgroup to develop strategy for the Advisory Committee
• Member of selection panel for EACH President 2022
• Member of organising committee for 2022 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare

Previous Member of Teaching Subcommittee of EACH

• Co-led the development of the “tEACH Forum” – regular online CPD event focusing on areas of interest in the teaching of communication skills.

Member of the UK Council for Clinical Communication: https://www.ukccc.org.uk/

• Representative body of the communication teaching leads from all the Medical Schools in the UK
• Excellent forum for collaboration with colleagues from other medical schools
• Enabled development of “empathy mapping” teaching session, developed jointly with St Andrews Medical School

Member of CReME - UK Clinical Reasoning in Medical Education Group: https://creme.org.uk

Member of C4CHEd - the Collaboration for Compassion in Healthcare Education: C4CHEd

Member of Project Light Management Team

• Project Light is a student-staff partnership involving University of Leicester and De Montfort University.
• Student volunteers are provided with training before running weekend/evening health advice sessions in one of the homelessness charities in Leicester.
• Members of the management team also work to enable student placements in the homeless sector including at Inclusion Healthcare.

Membership of the Academy of Medical Educators 2012 - https://www.medicaleducators.org/

Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy 2014 - https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/fellowship/senior-fellowship

University of Leicester Distinguished Teaching Fellowship 2015 - Awarded in recognition of teaching excellence, specifically the development of innovative teaching on the use of electronic communication with patients in collaboration with the social enterprise Patients Know Best.

Merit Award University of Leicester 2019 - Awarded for “outstanding teaching contributions, where the case is backed by significant evidence and extra contributions made by a member of staff to teaching”, specifically the creation and leadership of the Compassionate Holistic Diagnostic Detective (CHDD) course in Phase 1 of the medical curriculum.

Denis O’Leary Medical Educator Award 2020 - Awarded for creating and leading the design and delivery of a social prescribing scheme by medical students in general practice. https://www.oxcme.uk/dol-award-2020

Principal Fellow Higher Education Academy 2024 - https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/fellowship/principal-fellowship

Fellow of the International Association of Communication in Healthcare 2024 - https://each.international/fellowship/

The International Association of Communication in Healthcare Teaching Award 2024 - https://each.international/eachevents/awards/

Workshop: “Using a novel technology to develop online consultation and communication between students and patients” with J. Bethea

UK Conference for Clinical Communication in Undergraduate Medical Education

11^th March 2015. Manchester, UK.

Workshop: “Integrating Diversity into Communication Skills Training” with N. Dogra

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare.

9^th September 2016. Heidelberg, Germany

Oral Presentation: “Teaching Medical Students About Life with a Long-Term Condition Through Online Communication with Patients"

Regional Conference. Society for Academic Primary Care

21^st March 2017. Lincoln, UK.

Workshop: “Integrating Diversity into Communication Skills Training” with N. Dogra

EACH Summer Event

5^th – 6^th September 2017. London, UK.

Elevator Pitch: “Exploring Life with a Long-Term Condition Using Asynchronous Online Communication”

Annual Scientific Meeting. Society for Academic Primary Care

12^th July 2017. Warwick, UK.

Dangerous Idea Presentation: “The Wrong People Doing the Right Jobs”

Annual Scientific Meeting. Society for Academic Primary Care

14th July 2017. Warwick, UK.

Workshop: “The teaching and assessment of triadic communication skills”

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare with D. Critoph (University of Cambridge), R. Westacott, N. Dogra

4^th September 2018. Porto, Portugal

Oral presentation: “Exploring life with a long-term condition using asynchronous online communication”.

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare.

3^rd September 2018. Porto, Portugal

Workshop: “Empathy maps: what are they, and how could they help develop empathy and compassion in medical students?” with A. Laidlaw, E. Watson, P. Cairns (St Andrews Medical School)

UK Conference for Clinical Communication in Undergraduate Medical Education

6th March 2019. Manchester, UK.

Workshop: “The teaching and assessment of triadic communication skills”

UK Conference for Clinical Communication in Undergraduate Medical Education

6^th March 2019. Manchester, UK.

Workshop: “Communication using technology” with L. Morris (Cardiff University).

UK Council for Clinical Communication Meeting

22^nd November 2019. Dundee, UK.

Workshop: “Teaching Remote Consultation Skills” with L. Morris (Cardiff University)

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare

9^th September 2020. Online.

Oral presentation: “Collaborative Development of a Triadic Consultation Assessment in two UK Medical Schools” with D. Critoph (University of Cambridge)

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare

10th September 2020. Online.

Roundtable discussion: “Sharing experiences of digital & phone consultations & working with Personal Protective Equipment” joint-chair with E. van Weel-Baumgarten (Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands)

International Conference of Communication in Healthcare

16^th April 2021. Online.

Oral presentation: “The use of online assessment and text-based communication between medical students and patients in lifestyle modification”

AMEE 2021 Virtual Conference. 30^th August 2021. Online

Symposium (Chair): “Communicating Effectively with Inclusion Health Populations” with L. Andrews (Change Communication), A. Black (Public Health Scotland), A. Williamson (University of Glasgow)

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare

8^th September 2022. Glasgow.

Oral Presentation: "Working with Interpreters"

Pathways to Homelessness Conference

15th March 2023. London.

Plenary Lecture: "The Role of Empathy in Healthcare"

29th International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services

21st September 2023. Vienna.

Plenary Lecture: "The Importance of Empathy in Inclusion Healthcare" with R. Cottington (Hepatitis C Trust)

Listening to Community Voices - Inclusion Health Symposium

18th October 2023. Anglia Ruskin University. Chelmsford.

Oral Presentation: "Collaborative development and evaluation of an OSCE station assessing the use of the SBAR tool in handover"

Ottawa Conference on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions

26th February 2024, Melbourne, Australia

Invited Workshop: "Creating Empathic Systems"

Having Impact on Health Communication - EACH Australia Professional Development

29th February 2024, University of Melbourne, Australia

Oral Presentation: "The Importance of Empathy in Inclusion Healthcare" with R. Cottington (Hepatitis C Trust)

Pathways from Homelessness 2024 International Conference

13th March 2024, London.

Plenary Lecture: "The Importance of Empathy in Inclusion Healthcare"

UK Council on Clinical Communication Annual Meeting

21st March 2024, Keele University

Symposium: "Inclusion healthcare – empathy, trauma-informed practice and medical education" with A. Williamson (University of Glasgow), S. Ahluwalia (Anglia Ruskin University), R. Cottington (Hepatitis C Trust)

ASME Annual Scientific Meeting

12th July 2024, University of Warwick

Workshop: "Teaching an empathy-focused approach to consultations with annoyed, upset or angry patients" with R. Babla (University of Leicester)

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare

11th September 2024, Zaragoza

Symposium: "Healthcare communication research on the teaching and learning of empathy" with A. Papageorgiou (University of Nicosia Medical School, Cyprus), J. Foucart (Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B), Belgium), I. Pinker (Luxembourg Institute of Health, Luxembourg)

International Conference on Communication in Healthcare

11th September 2024, Zaragoza

MBChB - 1992 (Leicester)

Post Graduate Certificate in Medical Education - 2007 (De Montfort University)

MSc - Clinical Leadership Education and Research - 2021 (De Montfort University)

MRCGP - Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners