Sussex medics told to heed feedback (From The Argus)

Sussex medics told to heed feedback

4:20pm Tuesday 28th August 2012 in News

A hospital boss is urging staff to make better use of feedback from patients.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust interim chief executive Chris Adcock says the trust needs to take a closer look at all the comments and views it gets and do something productive with them.

The trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath among others, already asks a random number of patients each month to take part in a survey about their experience.

The results are then broken down into individual wards and departments and shared with managers and matrons who can then make any necessary changes and improvements.

In a message to staff, Mr Adcock said: “While it is important to give credit where is it due when we get it right, it is equally, if not more important, to focus on the instances where we don’t.

“The variety of media and forums which people can use to tell us how they think we did has grown at an incredible rate in recent years.

“What we are not as good at is systematically looking at all the feedback we receive, from our staff as well as our patients, and doing something meaningful or proactive with it.

“So the plan over the next three months is to do just that and present it in a clear and publishable |format.

“From this we can identify patterns or common themes which will in turn allow us to focus our time and energy on improving the things that do actually matter to the people we employ and care for.”