Real-time patient feedback

The Countess of Chester Hospital is using real-time patient feedback to help deliver continuous quality care to patients.

The recently published report by the  Medical Director of the NHS, Sir Bruce Keogh into the poor standard of care at 14 NHS Trusts, along with the Francis Report into Mid-Staffordshire, have drawn attention to the importance of listening to the views of patients in order to ensure that the expected standards of care are being delivered at all times.

How are we doing it?

The Trust's patient bedside TV screens - provided by Hospicom - are now also being utilised across the hospital to gather real-time patient experience. This involves asking patients to provide feedback on their bedside TV screens anonymously. At the touch of a button a simple survey appears on the screen, asking patients about the quality of their experience while they are being treated on their ward. Each patient can respond to the survey as many times as they want as it is designed to monitor patient experiences in real-time, for example from one day to the next.  

How will this benefit the patient?

Alison Kelly, Director of Nursing & Quality, said: "Our objective is to ensure that patients are satisfied while they are here and that they have the opportunity to tell us if there is something wrong so we can do something about it straight away. Equally we also want to record positive feedback to highlight the good work we are doing and to allow patients to show their appreciation for the excellent care we are delivering."

Alison along with the heads of nursing, matrons, and ward managers will be monitoring performance on a daily basis to ensure that the Trust is providing an excellent standard of care to patients at all times. If any issues are raised they will appear on the live reports on a daily basis and will be dealt with immediately. This is also allowing timely feedback to be provided back to the clinical teams.