An NHS patient survey is an essential tool for healthcare providers. Hospitals and general practice have a duty to work with patients to get feedback on current services and in addition to consulting on new ones. So what is the best way to get meaningful feedback and what is the best way to do this?
How people want to engage in NHS patient survey
We share our experiences. We had 388 responses to our survey over a 3 day period, with some really interesting results. 11% didn’t want to give feedback regularly, and another 10% only wanted to if there where evening or weekend patient meetings. However, the overwhelming majority DID want to give feedback, but only if it were easier for them to engage. Furthermore, 77% said they preferred online surveys.
However, there was more to it than the method of engagement. They wanted the NHS patient survey to be easy for them to answer, by using, for example, just a couple of questions, they wanted to see the results and they wanted to know what happened as a result of their feedback. Without this, they were less likely to engage in the future.
Are incentives needed for NHS patient survey
The largest number, 25%, did not want any incentives for their feedback. They were happy to play their part and 74% were happy to encourage others to do respond to patient surveys.
Accelerating patient engagement
We have had a lot of success with nhs patient surveys over the years. We design them to be super easy for patients to engage with, including just a few clicks, and importantly, we tell them about the impact that they have made after the survey. Some of our recent surveys have had nearly 2,000 responses within 3 days and we always try to produce a video to share the results with our patients, together with how we plan to act on the results.
Ultimate Guide to patient engagement
- Analyse
Look at a specific area where input is needed from your NHS Patient survey. Only ask questions where the input of patients will affect what you plan to do. Don’t ask questions where you have already decided what you want to do and need to go through a process or where you don’t have ability to act on the results. Look at data in the area – including activity, KPIs, staff and previous patient feedback. This process crystallises into 3 key short, clear, open questions which will aid decision-making.
- Act
We formulate the 3 questions, and significantly the questions are contextualised using infographics and video. Our trials have demonstrated 10 times response rates at a fraction of the cost.
- Assess
Data that comes back needs to be analysed. Free text is a valuable source of information so you can have qualitative and quantitative data to look at. For example, it may uncover a need that you haven’t thought of. Group these together in themes and analyse the themes.
- Share
Make a short video with the results and feedback from patients and staff. Thank patients and ask them to keep an eye open for the next one. Don’t do too many surveys.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.