The value of good patient experience data lies in the power of individual stories

As part of our Autumn thought leadership and best practice programme for CCGs, we will be publishing  a series of guest blogs from your peers. Our first guest blogger is Jason Stamp. Jason is Lay Member for Patient and Public Involvement at Hull CCG and is also Chair of NHS England's Patient and public voice assurance group. Here Jason reflects on how patient stories help bring the focus of patient experience away from data and back to people. We and he would welcome your thoughts and comments.

Patient experience has become an industry in itself. There is already a wealth of patient experience data captured by both commissioners and providers of services from a range of different sources. On a quarterly basis there is a large volume of information to consider that brings together Friends and Family Test reporting, complaints and PALS data, CQUINS performance, patient satisfaction surveys and intelligence gathering by local Healthwatch organisations.

In many ways there is almost too much information and a risk that unless we are able to analyse and understand what we are being told it becomes a meaningless, routine exercise and it becomes patient experience without a purpose.

The value of good patient experience data lies in the power of individual stories which collectively allow us to pro-actively challenge how services are delivered, identify key themes and trends and evidence how patient feedback has led to improvements and change.

In NHS Hull CCG we have focused on developing a central system that allows all our patient experience data to be brought together in one place, so that patient experience becomes tangible and relevant to the whole organisation rather than just the communications and engagement team. It influences the way that the organisation commissions as well as managing contracts and monitoring quality and performance. It enables us to challenge ourselves as well as providers from a patient perspective.

Different and innovative ways of capturing patient experience data and patient stories have to be encouraged. It is an inclusive approach to hearing a range of different voices and stories, very often from people who do not use traditional feedback mechanisms. Online feedback mechanisms including social media and systems like Patient Opinion often attract marginalised and underrepresented groups. It is a quick, easy and user friendly way to share an experience or highlight an issue. It captures experience in a way which meets the needs of patients rather than being driven by the organisation.

It is worth holding on to the fact that not all patient experience stories are negative and focus on things that go wrong. Some of the most powerful stories are those which celebrate outstanding achievement and demonstrates how much people value the NHS.

Adding more patient experience data into an already overcrowded arena can start to feel like overload. However, we have to make room for creativity and innovation and a voice and a story that needs to be heard in a different way. It takes patient experience to a different level – away from dry reporting and statistics and back to people.