HEALTHCARE DELIVERY
Improvement in patient experience celebrated
RUTH EVANS, director of the Patient Experience Network, considers ‘what makes a good patient experience?’ She emphasises the importance of recognising and sharing examples of best practice to drive improvement throughout the health service.
The ‘patient experience’ is now in the minds of most healthcare leaders. It is no longer a luxury that can be dispensed with when more pressing initiatives arise. Nevertheless, there is much ambiguity over what is meant by, and what can be done to deliver, a ‘world class patient experience’. The Patient Experience Network (PEN) aims to help address this, by providing a valuable resource for healthcare organisations and individuals wishing to deliver a great experience for patients. A not-for-profit organisation, PEN was
established nearly two years ago, to recognise, share and celebrate the initiatives around the UK that are improving the experience of millions of patients. PEN realised that organisations are often either unaware of, or do not take the time to recognise, their own best practice. However, sharing this best practice is
crucial for creating a consistent experience across an organisation and for driving continuous improvement. Most importantly, celebration of these achievements engenders incredible pride within teams and inspires them to strive to deliver even more great experiences for their patients. With this in mind, the organisation
launched the PEN National Awards (PENNA). Now in their second year, the awards took place on 18 January and proved to be a day of passion, commitment and energy in the celebration
NHS Lothian, the overall winner of the PEN National Awards.
of best practice from around the UK. This year, the finalists at PENNA were
characterised by their incredible personal commitment to their role, their energy and ‘can do’ approach to all challenges encountered and their passion for improving their patients’ experience. Having listened to the six winners presenting their best practice case studies, what was apparent was the extent of their sense of empowerment. Where this empowerment was reinforced by the healthcare organisation in which they worked there was an expectation that best practice would be sustained and
‘Best practice does not necessarily require ‘innovation’. It is about puttingthe patient, their carers and families, at the heart of thinking.’
42 THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL
embedded more broadly across the organisation. What was also clear was that best
practice does not necessarily require ‘innovation’. It is about putting the patient, their carers and families, at the heart of thinking, which results in a visible and fundamental difference for patients and their outcomes. Quite simply, it can be about ‘going back to basics’ – sometimes the simple things can make the biggest difference.
The winners At Lothian (the overall winner), nurses described how they had enabled older patients with enduring mental health problems to decorate their own ward at a small cost of £200. This resulted in less aggression on the ward and improved medical outcomes. Similarly, a children’s ward had worked with younger shorter term in-patients to improve the ambience
MARCH 2012
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