Patients’ views ‘will help improve quality of care’

Pennine Care will use survey kiosks to capture patients’ views about its services

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust is planning to use feedback from patients to improve the quality of its care.

£140,000 has been invested by the Trust and NHS commissioners to install an interactive survey kiosk on 35 mental health wards and outpatient areas, on which patients can complete a survey about their experiences.

The survey will include questions about the quality of care received, facilities, food and staff attitudes and behaviour. The ward or service will receive a monthly report outlining what patients have said, where they are performing well and need to make improvements. The service will then have to take steps to address any issues concerning the quality of care or services they provide.

Henry Ticehurst, Medical Director, said: “We hope that by making it easier for patients to tell us what they think, we will be able to develop and improve the quality of our care and services to meet their needs.

“Although we already have processes in place to measure patient experience, we wanted to develop an enhanced system where patients could give their feedback directly to us, in real time.

“The kiosks are really easy to use and the survey has been designed in partnership with patients so that it is straightforward to complete. All of the wards and services involved are really supportive of the project and we hope to roll it out even further in the future.”

Pennine Care provides mental health services in Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside and Glossop for both adults and children. The Trust also provides community services in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale.