Background and Context:
The annual Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) conducted by the National Health Service (NHS) measures the experience of 70,000 cancer patients in England. Over the 3 years it’s run, CPES has driven improvements. At a national level around half the measures surveyed improved in the 2012/13 survey compared to previous two years.
The data alone does not provide a framework for making changes, so Macmillan developed the Macmillan Values Based Standard® (VBS) as a framework for improving patient and staff experience.
Macmillan worked with more than 300 patients, staff, carers and family members to develop VBS. It identifies specific behaviours which patients want staff to get right and staff want to be empowered to deliver. These are practical things staff can do every day and are what patients can expect.
Aim:
To raise awareness of the importance of patient experience, and roll out VBS to achieve improvements in patient care and staff experience.
Strategy/Tactics:
Through a media campaign around CPES results, Macmillan identified the 10 best and 10 worst performing Trusts, this acted as a springboard for poorly performing Trusts to partner with Macmillan to make improvements.
Programme/Policy Process:
Over the course of 2013/14, Macmillan has begun working with staff and patients across 20 NHS Hospital Trusts, and 16 other sites, to analyse their performance in the CPES, alongside local insights, to create a holistic picture of priorities for improvement. Using VBS as a framework, staff are empowered to tackle the issues and co-design potential solutions.
Outcomes/What was learned:
Early findings demonstrated that implementing VBS led to improvements in patient and staff experience. For example Dorset County Hospital improved the quality of information that patients receive; Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust film patients talking about their treatment by staff, who then watch the footage and make relevant changes.