Agenda item

The Committee received a joint presentation from the Integrated Care Board (ICB), University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL), Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) and Healthwatch Leicestershire regarding how feedback was obtained of patient experience in Leicestershire. A copy of the presentation slides, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

The Committee welcomed to the meeting for this item Sue Burton, Deputy Chief Nurse Pathway to Excellence Programme Director, UHL, Alison Kirk, Head of Patient Experience and Involvement, LPT, Jenny Goodwin, Deputy Chief Officer Communications and Engagement and Insights, ICB and Fiona Barber, Healthwatch Leicestershire Board member.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)           Most of the complaints received by Healthwatch related to difficulties accessing services and appointments, not the quality of the appointment itself.

(ii)         Members welcomed that the feedback UHL received from patients compared well with UHL’s peer trusts.

(iii)        Members welcomed the ‘You said, we did’ notices which were placed in NHS waiting rooms but suggested that the notices would be more helpful if they included a trajectory for performance and a timescale of when the issue was originally identified. In response it was explained that the information on trajectories was held and consideration would be given to how it could be included in the notices.

(iv)       Members emphasised that when asking for feedback, patients needed to be made aware of the context that the health service was performing within, for example the financial situation or the level of demand that was being coped with. This would enable patients to understand what was realistic and manage their expectations.

(v)         A member emphasised that it was important to get feedback during the period a patient was undergoing treatment, as well as after. In response it was acknowledged that some patients underwent treatment for long periods of time, particularly those with mental health issues, and reassurance was given that patients were asked for their views both during and after treatment. There were community forums where patients could discuss their experiences, and conversations also took place on wards. The Care Quality Commission also spoke to patients during their visits.

(vi)       The Friends and Family Test (FFT) was conducted after treatment was completed or when the patient had been discharged from a service. A link to the FFT was sent to patients via text message. There was no specific limit as to how many texts a patient could receive from the ICB. Whilst the system did flag up when a patient had received 2 text messages, it was still possible for a patient to receive multiple texts. The FFT was intended to highlight where more in depth investigations needed to be carried out into patient experiences and identify where work needed to take place with particular services. The information obtained from the FFT could be triangulated with other complaints data to get a better understanding of what the major issues were.

(vii)      GP Practices were able to create their own FFT and focus on particular issues that were relevant to that practice. The ICB liaised with the top 10 GP Practices according to patient feedback to find out how they delivered such a positive service. Plans were in place to pair those practices up with those practices in the lower decile so that good practice could be shared.

(viii)    With regards to the number of surveys sent out by UHL it was agreed that it would be checked how many a patient could receive and an answer provided after the meeting.

(ix)       National Patient Surveys also took place. The NHS recognised that survey fatigue could be a problem.

(x)         In response to a question from the Chairman about what qualitative research was carried out regarding the patient experience, it was explained that 15 Steps Programme toolkit used qualitative observation to explore patient experiences in healthcare settings.

(xi)       The Healthwatch England National Survey found that over half of people (56%) who made a complaint to an NHS organisation were dissatisfied with the process of making the complaint. As this was a national survey further details were not available to the Committee, but it was suggested that patients feared that if they spoke up there would be negative consequences for them. Sometimes there were personality clashes between the patient and the person that they made the complaint to.

(xii)      In response to concerns raised about poor communication between patients and GP Practices, reassurance was given that efforts were being made to engage with all patients and particularly those at risk of isolation. A member suggested that greater use should be made of newsletters.

(xiii)    The language NHS staff used towards patients was important, and whilst it was useful to explain to the patient how busy a service was and apologise for a long wait, the patient needed to be reassured that they would receive full focus from a clinician and the quality of their care would not be impacted.

RESOLVED:

That the update regarding patient feedback be noted.