An evaluation of a real-time survey for improving patient experiences
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An evaluation of a real-time survey for improving patients’ experiences of the relational aspects of care.
IRAS ID
147466
Contact name
Chris Graham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Picker Institute Europe
Research summary
The 2013 Francis report describes serious problems with the ‘relational’ aspects of hospital care.
These include, for example, treating patients with dignity and compassion and offering emotional support. All NHS trusts are expected to respond to the Francis Inquiry and to take action to strengthen patient voice, improve frontline care and change organisational culture. We know from research studies that the relational aspects of care are very important to patients, and that they strongly influence how people rate their overall experience of being in hospital. For NHS trusts, being able to measure and improve the relational aspects of care will be key in working towards all three post-Francis priorities.The current study will provide evidence about how NHS staff, leaders, and managers should present, communicate, and use ‘real-time’ data to improve the care that they provide. The research will focus on the ‘relational’ aspects of care for older people in hospital and for people who attend Accident and Emergency departments. By ‘relational’ aspects of care we mean the quality of interactions between healthcare professionals and patients.
This research project aims to:
•identify a set of questions that specifically measure the ‘relational’ aspects care;
•use these questions and focus group findings to develop a real-time survey instrument;
•introduce the real-time survey instrument into wards and A&E departments in 6 NHS trusts;
•work with NHS staff to understand what helps and hinders them in using results to improve care; and
•publish the findings, including a survey toolkit and a set of ‘best practice’ recommendations to support NHS staff and service leads.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
14/ES/1065
Date of REC Opinion
20 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion