Action 1.13

Reported patient experiences are an important element in determining the quality of care provided. Patient and carer feedback should be gathered systematically, using well-designed (and, ideally, validated) data collection tools. The data should be used to improve the quality of care.

The health service organisation should promote the organisation’s ability to respond to patient experience information by:

• Ensuring that the organisation adopts a validated and reliable method to systematically seek feedback from patients and carers; systematic analysis and testing of feedback will enable system improvement
• Ensuring that a designated individual is responsible for maintaining the integrity of feedback systems
• Allocating enough resources to support the feedback system
• Seeking patient feedback regularly and from the types of patients who represent the patient population, to ensure that data are reliable and cover the services provided; feedback may be sought on a general (that is, organisation-wide) or specific (that is, individual service or unit) basis
• Providing a mechanism to regularly seek feedback from the workforce to test the culture of the organisation
• Ensuring that information gained from the feedback system is analysed for safety and quality risks and improvement opportunities, and used to inform the organisation’s quality improvement system
• Reviewing information about the performance of the patient feedback system
• Ensuring that the workforce, patients and carers receive information about what has been learned from the feedback system, and how it has been used to generate improvements in the organisation
• Comparing performance with similar services and any nationally available benchmarks.

Strategies for obtaining patient experience feedback may include:

• Using a validated survey instrument that incorporates the national core common patient experience questions
• Regularly collecting feedback from patients, and providing feedback to the workforce, governing body and consumers
• Using focus groups of consumers to consider specific issues, or issues relating to a specific location or service provision.

Strategies for obtaining feedback from the workforce may include:

• Using a validated survey instrument
• Providing opportunities for the workforce to submit recommendations for improvement
• Using existing meetings, committees and human resources processes, such as performance reviews, to collect information from the workforce on safety and quality systems.

Examples of evidence

Select only examples currently in use:

• Data collection tools for collecting workforce, patient and carer feedback
• Committee or meeting records about the selection of patient experience questions, and review of workforce, patient and carer feedback
• Data analysis and reports of consumer feedback or surveys used to evaluate the health service organisation’s performance
• Strategic, business and quality improvement plans that incorporate workforce, patient and carer feedback.

Reported patient experiences are an important element in determining the quality of care provided. Patient and carer feedback should be gathered systematically, using well-designed (and, ideally, validated) data collection tools. The data should be used to improve the quality of care.

The health service organisation should promote the organisation’s ability to respond to patient experience information by:

• Ensuring that the organisation adopts a validated and reliable method to systematically seek feedback from patients and carers; systematic analysis and testing of feedback will enable system improvement
• Ensuring that a designated individual is responsible for maintaining the integrity of feedback systems
• Allocating enough resources to support the feedback system
• Seeking patient feedback regularly and from the types of patients who represent the patient population, to ensure that data are reliable and cover the services provided
• Providing a mechanism to regularly seek feedback from the workforce to test the culture of the organisation
• Ensuring that information gained from the feedback system is analysed for safety and quality risks and improvement opportunities, and used to inform the organisation’s quality improvement system
• Reviewing information about the performance of the patient feedback system
• Ensuring that the workforce, patients and carers receive information about what has been learned from the feedback system, and how it has been used to generate improvements in the organisation
• Comparing performance with similar services and any nationally available benchmarks.

Strategies for obtaining patient experience feedback may include:

• Using a validated survey instrument that incorporates the national core common patient experience questions
• Regularly collecting feedback from patients, and providing feedback to the workforce, governing body and consumers.

Other informal mechanisms include:

• Contacting patients after their episode of care
• Having morning tea with patients to obtain feedback
• Talking to patients while they are waiting for services.

Examples of evidence

Select only examples currently in use:

• Data collection tools for collecting workforce, patient and carer feedback
• Committee or meeting records about the selection of patient experience questions, and review of workforce, patient and carer feedback
• Data analysis and reports of consumer feedback or surveys used to evaluate the health service organisation’s performance
• Strategic, business and quality improvement plans that incorporate workforce, patient and carer feedback.

MPSs or small hospitals that are part of a local health network or private hospital group should adopt or adapt the established processes for seeking feedback from patients, carers and families about their experience of care, and for seeking feedback from the workforce on their understanding of safety and quality.

Small hospitals that are not part of a local health network or private hospital group should:

• Implement a comprehensive feedback system that is appropriately designed, resourced and maintained to
  • collect patient experience data
  • collect data on the workforce’s understanding of safety and quality
• Describe the framework for reviewing feedback data from patients and the workforce, and incorporate issues identified into the organisation’s quality improvement system
• Review reports on the analysis of patient experience data and the actions to deal with issues identified
• Periodically review the effectiveness of the organisation’s feedback system.

Reported patient experiences are an important element in determining the quality of care provided. Patient and carer feedback should be gathered systematically, using well-designed (and, ideally, validated) data collection tools. The data should be used to improve the quality of care.

Strategies for obtaining patient experience feedback may include:

• Using a validated survey instrument that incorporates the national core common patient experience questions
• Regularly collecting feedback from patients, and providing feedback to the workforce, governing body and consumers
• Using focus groups of consumers to consider specific issues, or issues relating to a specific location or service provision.

Examples of evidence

Select only examples currently in use:

• Data collection tools for collecting workforce, patient and carer feedback
• Committee or meeting records about the selection of patient experience questions, and review of workforce, patient and carer feedback
• Data analysis and reports of consumer feedback or surveys used to evaluate the health service organisation’s performance
• Strategic, business and quality improvement plans that incorporate workforce, patient and carer feedback.