What about the patients? Experience is the weakest of the three arms of quality

Summary

Published in HSJ, Annie Laverty, Chief Experience Officer, Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, speaks to Jeremy Taylor, former CEO of patient group National Voices, on the work her and the trust has done on patient experience, her motivation and the impact it has had.

Content

What can I learn?

• Patient experience remains the weakest of the three arms of quality; it doesn’t get the same attention as safety and clinical effectiveness and still tends to be seen as a nice add-on. This needs to change.
• Don’t measure, unless you’re willing and able to improve. 
• Start small, but start. Don’t be focussed on the barriers. Measure well. Feedback responsibly, link it to improvement.
• Don’t worry about unleashing high patient expectations that can’t be met.