New way of collecting feedback helps more people share their experiences
NHFT has recently introduced a new and more convenient way for service users, carers and families to provide feedback on the services the Trust provides - and it has resulted in a big boost in the number of people sharing their experiences.
Listening to feedback is really important because it helps the Trust to learn when things have not gone well and build on good practice when things have gone well. The new way of collecting feedback aims to provide a better experience for our service users, carers and families- so it's quicker and easier for people tell us about their care.
Each month, we use an automated text message service to get in touch with everyone who has been discharged from one of our services that month (and consented to be contacted by us). They then just need to follow a link and take a few minutes to share their thoughts in a simple online survey.
Previously, we were limited to just one survey for each service - but now we have the flexibility to create many more surveys to capture feedback for specific needs.
These are easy for our staff to share with service users and families using QR codes, whether they are on an NHFT site or out in the community.
And for those without access to digital technology we still have the ability to print out paper surveys, which is particularly helpful on our secured sites where mobile phones are not permitted.
Even more helpfully, staff no longer have to wait until the end of a month to see the results of a round of surveys.
Now they can look at live data and comments using a secure online dashboard, which means that any concerns raised can be responded to much more quickly.
Our new way of collecting feedback has proved a big success in terms of helping more people to have their say.
In the last complete year under the old feedback collection system there were just under 9,000 surveys completed in total. Our most recent annual data shows a total of 16,760 completed surveys - that's an increase of 86%.
Linda Chibuzor, Chief Nurse and Executive Director for Quality (pictured right), said: "We want to make it easier for people to tell us what they think about their experiences of our care because that puts us in a better place to improve the services we provide.
"It's really encouraging to see the evidence that so many more service users, carers and families are now able to share their feedback, and we hope that this upward trend continues."