Category: 5.1. Achieving patient-friendly services
The Lighthouse Medical Practice in Eastbourne saw that entrenched cultural issues were getting in the way of customer service. Many patients expected to get what they wanted when they wanted it, whereas staff viewed patients as problems, rather than as customers who deserved good service.
Practice Manager Amanda Sayer, with her background in the retail sector, believed that truly engaging patients in managing the surgery would improve understanding on both sides. This would lead to a better customer experience. Setting up and then supporting
a patient forum seemed a logical move.
Many patient forums are recruited somewhat haphazardly, through a poster on the waiting room notice board. By contrast, the recruitment of the Lighthouse patient forum members came after a painstaking planning process. Amanda used a ‘service improvement grid’ to outline the aims of the forum and the best way to recruit people, which included getting nominations from GPs and nurses.
From the beginning, the forum has embraced many of the projects designed to improve customer care. One of its first projects was to improve the waiting room environment. So far, it has changed the music, notice board, leaflet rack, magazines and chairs, with more changes on the way. The forum has been given a budget of £30,000, from freed-up commissioning resources, to spend on such improvements and on health promotion events.
‘Working with the patients themselves makes a huge difference to customer service. We are dependent on each other for making the surgery tick over and we share everything with them,’ says Amanda.
Another key improvement has been the forum’s involvement in meeting and greeting in the surgery. Once a week, one member of the patient forum spends a day in the practice, helping patients with the touch screens and generally being helpful and welcoming. This makes the experience of visiting the surgery less stressful for many people.
Amanda Sayer
amanda.sayer@nhs.net
