Patient Experience of Diagnostics Report.

Patient Association – February 2024

Our latest report analyses the opinions and experiences of more than 1,000 NHS patients on diagnostic testing services.

The main message is clear: patients view diagnostics as a fundamental part of the NHS and one that should be prioritised over the coming years. They want to see greater prioritisation and investment in testing services.

Most respondents (93%) want testing capacity to be invested in over the coming years so that patients can receive tests and diagnosis more quickly. Funding and technology would enable quicker diagnosis and improved patient experiences.

Patients place such importance on diagnostics that 60% would consider paying for the tests they need if they faced a long wait on the NHS.

These findings highlight the need to deliver improvements in current services. The stakes are high, with early diagnosis leading to quicker treatment, better outcomes, and reduced hospitalisation. 

Patient Experience of Diagnostics Report.

The value of listening: Our annual report -2022/2023 – Heathwatch

Healthwatch – 14th March 2024

In our 2022-23 annual report, we share the value that the public’s voices bring to health and social care services. Read about our work and the next steps we plan to take.

The value of listening: Our annual report

The value of listening: Our annual report 2022-23 – Healthwatch

Healthwatch – 14th March 2024

Our health and care system faces serious challenges. In every part of the system, access is an issue – one that disproportionately affects those who already face health inequalities. People have shared with us that they feel admin and communication can be slow, inefficient, and sometimes lacking empathy. And while we hear stories of excellent care, people’s experiences vary considerably.

It’s clearer than ever that it’s essential to listen to the voices of those using the NHS to bring about better care for the nation. Only through listening to the public will we shape an NHS and social care system that works for everyone, for the next decade and beyond.

In our 2022-23 annual report, we share the value those voices have already brought to health and social care services. Read about our work, and the next steps we plan to take, in our report below.

Read the report – The value of listening: Our annual report 2022-23

Supporting patients with meals and snack times while in hospital

The Patients Association – March 2024

Through The Patients Association’s project work with NHS England, patients and carers have identified several areas where NHS resources supporting meal and snack times in hospital could be strengthened or improved through minor amendments. Participants in a focus group said that NHS England’s existing written resources for patients and staff were clear and helpful, but felt that some changes and additional information on the online portal, where the resources are accessed, could make them even better.

Further information – Supporting patients with meals and snack times while in hospital

What patients want: a vision for the NHS in 2030

Healthwatch England – 2024

Using experiences of care from more than 10 million people collected over the past 10 years, Healthwatch sets out where they think the NHS should be in six years and how it can get there

Read the report – What patients want: a vision for the NHS in 2030

How to improve investigations of medical harm

NIHR – 10th January 2024

Investigations into life-changing medical harm (including injury or death) aim to establish what happened, learn lessons, and bring justice to the people affected. Research found that those who have experienced harm want reviews to be transparent, trustworthy, and person-centred to meet their needs. People want to be meaningfully involved in the process and to be treated with respect and empathy.

Researchers from the University of Exeter analysed 41 studies exploring the views of people who had gone through an investigation of a life-changing event.  

The findings could help the NHS conduct reviews that feel and look fair to people who have experienced medical harm. They could help people understand what to expect from a fair process.

Further information – How to improve investigations of medical harm

This is a summary of: Shaw L, and others. Patient, carer and family experiences of seeking redress and reconciliation following a life‐changing event: Systematic review of qualitative evidence. Health Expectations 2023; 26: 2127 – 2150.

Positive Voices 2022: survey report

UK Health Security Agency

Positive Voices is a nationally representative survey of patients attending HIV specialist care in England, Wales and Scotland. The survey includes patient-reported data on: HIV knowledge, diagnoses and treatment; health conditions and medication; health care use and satisfaction with HIV specialist services and GP services; health-related quality of life and wellbeing; general health and health-related behaviours; stigma and discrimination; housing, employment and finances; met and unmet health and social care needs; and the impact of Covid-19.

Read the Report – Positive Voices 2022: survey report

Investigation report: Caring for adults with a learning disability in acute hospitals

HSSIB – 31st Oct 2023

Despite national efforts to address inequity, the health and care system is not always meeting the needs of people with a learning disability when they are cared for in hospital, says our latest report.

This conclusion was drawn from a comprehensive national investigation examining the inpatient care of adults with a known learning disability.

The report says that there is a commitment across the NHS to improve the experience of care for those with a learning disability but that, ‘persistent and widespread’ safety risks remain. The report also points to multiple studies and reports which continue to evidence poorer outcomes, avoidable illness and premature death for those with a learning disability.

The report reveals that current systems and processes within the NHS are not always designed to enable staff to deliver effective care to people with a learning disability.

Read the Report – Caring for adults with a learning disability in acute hospitals

Making patient experience a priority

Kings Fund – 20th Oct 2023

The King’s Fund has been working with the Heads of Patient Experience (HOPE) network to design and develop projects to better understand how people and communities are experiencing health and care services. What did we learn? 

We heard that patient experience is deteriorating across the NHS, so hearing from users should be of the utmost importance as the NHS looks to improve, yet too often those leading work on patient experience feel that it is not prioritised.

Further information – Making patient experience a priority

Patient experience: who is listening?

Kings Fund – October 2023

The story behind Martha’s rule is depressingly familiar. A parent raising significant concerns about their daughter’s ongoing care only to be ignored with tragic consequences. Unfortunately, this feels like the latest in a long line of incidents where the NHS has failed to heed warnings from patients and their families about the quality of their care.  

Sir Robert Francis’s inquiry which examined the failings in care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009 found that ‘patients and relatives felt excluded from effective participation in the patients’ care’.  The Keogh review in 2013 found there was a limited understanding of how important it was to involve patients and families in their care in the 14 trusts investigated because they had had higher than average mortality rates. More recently the Ockenden review into maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS Trust found that ‘For far too long, women and families who accessed care at the trust were denied the opportunity to voice their concerns about the quality of care they had received.’ There are many more examples I could have chosen to make the same point. Despite these and many other reports, inquiries and reviews, the NHS, at all levels, whether in clinical care or at board level, is still too often not listening to people who use its services.   

Further information – Patient experience: who is listening?