PENNA

Award win for patient feedback processes

North East Ambulance Service picked up two awards at this year’s Patient Experience Network National Awards in recognition of the way patient feedback is collected and communicated.

The Trust was named winner in the following categories: Measuring, Reporting and Acting & Turning It Around category and Using Insight for Improvement (NHS funded)

Mark Johns, NEAS engagement, diversity and inclusion manager, said: “The judges were really impressed with how we use a range of methods to collect patient feedback, how we can analyse it at station, cluster and CCG level and also the ability to understand how various demographic groups rate our services.

“They also really liked how we communicate the results to patients and use it to inform improvements.

“We've got a more work to do to really embed this in the improvement cycle. However, this is great recognition from these prestigious national awards.”

Latest feedback

NEAS collects patient survey feedback from four groups of patients every month: patients who have called 111, patients who have used the scheduled care service, patients who have received an ambulance response but treated at home without the need to go to hospital, and patients who have received an ambulance response and were taken to hospital.

Of the 52 patients who responded to the survey having been treated at home by a NEAS clinician in September, 94.2% rated their experience as good or very good, down slightly on the previous month.

Of the 440 patients who responded having been seen, treated and taken to hospital in September, 91.8% rated their experience as very good or good, up from 87.7% in August.

Of the 108 patients who used the scheduled care service in September, 91.7% rated their experience as very good or good, down from 94.8% in August.

Of the 181 patients who responded having called 111 in September, 87.3% of them rated the service they had received as very good or good, up from 81.5% in August.

The main reason consistently provided for negative feedback is timeliness of response.

Some of the feedback in September included:

  • "The compassion and professional manner were outstanding and well received."
  • "Very helpful and understanding of my needs and compassionate in the fact that I was very upset and reassured me."
  • "I cannot fault the service from the phone call to the ambulance itself- the staff were friendly and professional throughout thank you."
  • "The team was very knowledgeable and had excellent personal skills"
  • "They listened to what I had to say."
  • "Exceptional care. So kind and reassuring, very focused on what we needed."
  • "Excellent service on time and made to feel comfortable."

All patient feedback data is split by clinical commissioning group and is published on the NEAS website here: https://bit.ly/3T8tTwV