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Pointless questionnaire after outpatients visit

Posted By CFD

"Pointless questionnaire after outpatients visit"

About: Lincoln County Hospital

(as a service user),

I had an outpatient appointment at Lincoln County Hospital. There was nothing wrong with the visit, on the contrary I was seen on time and was discharged from treatment. the only real moan about the visit to LCH is the usual one with regards to parking, having to pay for the privilege, but that is a side issue.

My concern is not really a complaint about treatment but the text message after my visit asking: "Thinking about your Outpatient experience at United Lincs Hospitals NHS: How likely are you to recommend our service to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?" we then have a 1 to 6 from extremely likely to extremely unlikely.

I do not recommend a hospital service to anybody, it is my (their) GP's job to recommend your service.

Would it not be better if the question asked was, "Were you (the patient) happy with the service/treatment given?" and then ask for observations and recommendations on how the service was and what could be improved if necessary. 

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Responses

Response from Sharon Kidd, Patient Experience Manager, Patient Experience, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 6 years ago
Sharon Kidd
Patient Experience Manager, Patient Experience,
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 16/11/2017 at 10:16
Published on Care Opinion at 12:18

picture of Sharon Kidd

Dear CFD

Thank you for posting your feedback about the survey you received after your outpatient appointment.

The NHS England’s Friends and Family Test (FFT) is mandated as part of the NHS contract for use throughout all areas of the NHS which includes hospitals, GP surgeries, dentists etc. Along with all other general hospitals across the country, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has to ask inpatients, emergency patients and women who use maternity services, outpatients and day case patients how likely they are to recommend the ward, Accident and Emergency Department, outpatient clinic or department to their friends and family based on their experience in the hospital—this question has a range of possible answers from 'Extremely likely' to 'Extremely unlikely'. Patients also have an opportunity to give their main reasons for their answer. I fully appreciate that this may seem like an odd question when someone is receiving treatment but the reasoning behind this from NHS England is focused on whether this would be the case if someone needed similar care or treatment and that generally people will say to friends and family whether their experience was good or otherwise; the research behind this is that an ultimate indicator of a good service wherever in our lives will be whether we would recommend it.

Our Trust use this data as real-time feedback, alongside other information, to identify and tackle concerns at an early stage, improve the quality of care we provide, and ensure recognition of the very best care so that best practice can be spread across the Trust.

Patients do have the choice to opt out when the automated call or text is received. If someone does opt out it means they will received no further FFT surveys from us unless they change a mobile or home telephone number. If you would like to me to opt you out please email me with your full details to patient.experience@ulh.nhs.uk

Regards

Sharon Kidd, Patient Experience Manager

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