NIHR funded study looks at the impact of patient experience data

Academics from the Faculty have been working on a study exploring the impact of patient experience data in acute NHS Hospital Trusts. Dr Sara Donetto, Dr Amit Desai, Dr Giulia Zoccatelli, Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, and Professor Glenn Robert from the Faculty have been working on the project, together with Professor Davina Allen from Cardiff University and independent patient and public involvement advisor Sally Brearley. A discussion paper looking at the theoretical underpinnings for the study was published in the Journal of Health Services Research in 2017. Desai, A. G. Zoccatelli, M. Adams, D. Allen, S. Brearley, A. M. Rafferty, G. Robert, S. Donetto 2017. ‘Taking data seriously: the value of actor-network theory in rethinking patient experience data’ , Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 22(2): 134-36.

The project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Health Services & Delivery Research (HS&DR) stream, and began in February 2016. This ethnographic study looks at how gathering data can improve patient experience, including what data is collected, (eg the friends and family test, online feedback and surveys), how it is collected, who is making the most effective use of it and is it reaching the people who are able to act on it. It also looks at integrating the data into the way quality improvement is carried out to ultimately improve patient experience.

The animation below summarises some of the findings from the study and will be of interest in particular to NHS staff involved in collecting, analysing and using patient experience data, as well as to patients with an interest in how their feedback is used.  

A set of slides summarising the findings from the study will be available soon and a full report is due to be published in March 2019.