Issue - items at meetings - Patient Experience/Patient Outcomes

Presentations by Sussex Community Trust and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust on measuring and assessing patient experience and focusing on quality outcomes for patients (papers attached).

Dr Richard Ford, Executive Director of Strategic Development, and Andy Porter, Deputy Director, Social Inclusion, will present for the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Karen Hutchinson, Group Director, will present for Sussex Community Trust.

53.1    Dr Richard Ford, Executive Director of Strategic Development, and Mr Andy Porter, Deputy Director, Social Exclusion, presented for the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

53.2    In response to a question from Neil Holmes (representing the Brighton & Hove LINk on mental health issues at this meeting) on trust plans to use peer-support specialists to drive patient-influenced service improvements, members were told that, although there were no specific, concrete plans to use the peer support network in this way, the trust was committed to building on the excellent work already undertaken in terms of developing peer support.

53.3    In answer to a query from Neil Holmes on the mental health telephone helpline, the committee was informed that the helpline had proven to be a considerable success in the relatively short time it had been in operation. The trust was currently reviewing a number of issues pertaining to the helpline, including the possibility of moving to a cost-free service. However, the service was already available at the lowest possible phone tariff.

53.4    In response to a questions about the trust’s successes in terms of patient experience/outcomes, Dr Ford told members that he was beginning to see changes in service undertaken as the result of local user feedback, something which had seldom happened in the past. In addition, the trust was now able to ‘dig down’ into patient feedback data and make very localised responses (e.g. responding to complaints about the cleanliness of specific wards etc).

53.5    In answer to a query about how patient-recorded data amassed across Sussex could be made relevant to the population of Brighton & Hove, Mr Porter told members that much of the data collected could be analysed at a county level or broken down into locality-specific information.

53.6    Dr Ford and Mr Porter offered to provide members with additional information on the trust’s response to the recent Care Quality Commission user survey of SPFT community mental health services, including its specific responses to a series of questions about the survey posed by the Brighton & Hove LINk.

53.7    The Chairman thanked Dr Ford and Mr Porter for their contributions.

53.8    Ms Karen Hutchison, Group Director, addressed the committee for the Sussex Community Trust.

53.9    In answer to a question from Cllr Allen as to how Brighton & Hove interests were reflected in trust-wide data recording, Ms Hutchison told members that much of the trust’s data collection is at a local level and can be used locally. Where there is generic data, locality care group directors meet regularly to discuss the most appropriate ways to use this data to improve services in their localities.

53.10  In response to a query from the Chairman about how the trust planned services given the differing profiles of Brighton & Hove and West Sussex (i.e. in terms of urban Vs rural issues), Ms Hutchison told members that services are designed according to local need and that there is no attempt to impose a ‘one size fits all’ approach across both West Sussex and Brighton & Hove.

53.11  The Chairman thanked Ms Hutchison for her contribution.

Presentation on measuring patient experience of healthcare and ensuring that patient feedback is used to improve quality.

At this meeting, members will hear from officers of NHS Brighton & Hove (responsible for commissioning services that are responsive to patient experience and for quality assuring city healthcare), and from officers of Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals Trust (responsible for providing high quality acute healthcare services for city residents).

At subsequent committee meetings, it is planned that members will hear from officers of other local NHS trusts and from representatives of city GPs

41.1    This item was introduced by Martin Campbell, Head of Engagement, NHS Brighton & Hove; Sherree Fagge, Chief Nurse, Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals Trust (BSUHT); and Peter Flavell, Patient Experience Manager, BSUHT.

41.2    In response to a question from Jack Hazelgrove as to why there were so few GP practice patient groups in the city, Mr Campbell informed the committee that, to date, there had been little incentive for GPs to work with patient groups. However, this would become much more important with the introduction of GP commissioning, as GP consortia will assume some of the public engagement responsibilities of PCTs). Both Mr Campbell and Amanda Fadero, Chief Executive, NHS Brighton & Hove, assured members that local GPs were extremely enthusiastic about developing their engagement role.

41.3    In answer to a query from the Chairman as to whether the national GP patient survey contacted people registered with a GP or only those patients who had actually accessed GP services in the past year, Ms Fadero told the committee that it was likely that the survey was for any registered patients.

41.4    In response to a question from Cllr Barnett as to whether in-patients responded candidly to surveys (i.e. whether they were willing to criticise aspects of their care whilst continuing to receive care), Mr Flavell told members that his experience was that patients were willing to make robust comments. A key factor here was to ensure that trusts collected ‘real-time’ information and responded promptly to it, so that patients could actually see that there comments were being taken seriously.

41.5    In answer to a question from the Chairman regarding processes for feeding-back information to patients who had responded to surveys, Mr Flavell told members that effective feed-back mechanisms were still being developed, but that they might well take the form of ward-specific “You said – We did” notice boards.

41.6    Robert Brown told members that the LINk had developed an excellent working relationship with BSUHT and was supportive of the trust’s engagement with patients. However, there was still an issue with some patients understanding what they were entitled to – particularly so with patients suffering confusion (e.g. dementia). Ms Fagge responded that the trust was aware of this issue and was actively looking for better ways to reach out to confused patients – e.g. through the “sit and see” initiative.

41.7    The Chairman thanked Mr Campbell, Mr Flavell and Ms Fagge for their contributions.