40% response rates drives service improvements

Background

The first stage implementation of The Friends and Family Test was an enormous operation and overloaded staff with admin burden. With future rollout extending to Inpatients and Outpatients, automated processes were urgently required to alleviate resource pressures.

East Kent already partnered with Healthcare Communications to successfully reduce missed appointments in Outpatients. User feedback led East Kent to extend services to patient experience too.

Results were immediate, within one month A&E response rates doubled! Trust wide implementation meant East Kent successfully achieved all CQUIN response targets throughout roll out. The trust continues to exceed FFT response rates of 40% to meet internal KPI’s and ensure critical mass feedback instigates change.

With just a few key taps, you access all the patient feedback insights and trends! This is so valuable to support change in delivering a more effective and positive patient experience.Janice Biffen – Outpatient Matron, East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

East Kent list the main benefits of our solution as:

  • Real time feedback specific to ward/clinic or Trust wide and easily accessed
  • Monthly Auto reports for rapid information sharing to hundreds of staff
  • Automated data collation that ‘doesn’t require our staff to capture the information’
  • Multiple ways to survey patients including text, IVM, online and paper; tailored to fit with ward/clinic demographics
  • Ability to theme positive/negative key words to Trust focus areas and values.

Driving service improvements

One trust theme is waiting times and due to demand, clinics are regularly overbooked, often leading to delays. Trend analysis relating to this phrase prompted the following:

  • To ensure patients stay for their consultation, staff regularly visit the waiting area with updates, check patients are comfortable and supply refreshments.
  • In A&E, TV’s now display waiting times and service improvements to encourage further feedback
  • In double booked clinics, the Comments Report revealed some patients felt ‘they were on a conveyor belt’ or ‘didn’t want to waste doctor’s time’. The real time nature of feedback meant it was immediately raised at the divisional KPI meeting. A key objective is to develop substantive clinics, rather than overbooking as an answer to capacity demands.

These simple changes have significantly reduced negative comments surrounding the issue, which is also evident in the increase of relating ‘Recommends’.

You said, we did!

  • A constant theme flagged on the dashboard was lack of Wi-Fi access. Although previously mentioned to nursing staff, Envoy’s Comments report provided evidence to support change. Wi-Fi is now rolling out across the trust.
  • A common issue highlighted by key word theming was noisy wards at night. A pilot of eye masks and ear plugs is now in place and impact can easily be measured by the reduction in comments around this complaint.
  • Envoy software enables users to drill down to feedback specific to their ward/clinic. For example, an outpatient manager was alerted by the dashboard word cloud that lack of waiting room seating was a common complaint. An easy fix, with the purchase of more chairs to improve patient experience.

Improved staff morale

NHS England noted that the by-product of FFT is the unexpected boost to staff morale. At East Kent, the positive feedback word clouds generated from Envoy are displayed in wards. Staff feel valued, appreciated and proud to receive such comments, with some personal mentions receiving Trust letters of recognition. At monthly staff meetings, positive/negative feedback is discussed to reinforce great practice and highlight improvement areas to focus on.