Progressing and completing realtime patient feedback, February 2010

23 February 2010

Dear Practice,

Many thanks for your continued engagement with realtime patient feedback as we move towards the closing stages of the Department of Health pilot (31 March 2010).  This email contains important information on the next steps practices should be taking.

Progress to date

As we reach middle of February, practices should now have:

• Established a baseline, analysed their initial data and identified improvements
  
• Implemented at least one or more improvement at practice level
  
• Started to measure the impact of these improvements on subsequent feedback

Recent updates from suppliers have confirmed that most practices are meeting or exceeding these timescales, which is very encouraging.  If any practices are finding it difficult to meet these timescales or are encountering problems, please let Colin Cornforth (colin.cornforth@coi.gsi.gov.uk) and Paul Betts (paul.betts@dh.gsi.gov.uk) know as soon as possible.

In the remaining pilot period, practices should now focus on gathering as much data as possible to investigate whether their implemented improvements have positively affected patient experience and attitudes towards services.

It will also be valuable for practices to explore other ways in which they can demonstrate the impact of change – for example, increased uptake of services, decrease in 'did not attend' rates, or a noticeable change in how patients are interacting with services.

Some practices have reported a slight downturn in patient feedback following their initial launch.  Sharing and publicising results to date with patients, asking all your staff to remind patients for their feedback throughout their visit, and making sure patients understand they should feed back each time they visit your practice are all possible ways of boosting feedback before the close of the pilot.

Pilot close – evaluating and continuing

The Department of Health is now beginning its evaluation of the realtime patient feedback pilot.  The Central Office of Information will be visiting each practice in March and April to discuss practices’ learning around:

• Practical experience – how easy was realtime feedback to use?
  
• Impact – what impact did feedback have on the attitude of patients to services?
  
• Value – how useful did practices find realtime feedback as a monitoring tool?

The Department of Health would be grateful if practices could find time for this visit and any preparatory work required.  As part of the evaluation process, COI is also planning to invite GP staff from each of the 22 participating practices to an end of pilot meeting.  More details will be provided in due course.

This 'end evaluation' will form an appendix to the “Improving Access, responding to patients – A ‘how-to’ guide for GP practices” published by the Practice Management Network, and is expected to be become available from May 2010.

As the Department of Health pilot will conclude in March, GP practices wishing to continue with realtime patient feedback should talk to their technology supplier and Primary Care Trust about how it will be possible to continue, and how this can be funded. 

The DH is currently engaging with the NHS to ensure they are aware of the work that has been taking place around realtime patient feedback.

Many thanks for your help, and best of luck for the remainder of the pilot.

 

Dr Mike Warburton
National Director for Dental and GP Access
Department of Health

 

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