Improving Patient Care
Improving Patient Care by collecting ideas in an innovative campaign
1,000 ideas in 4 months using diverse methods but the real trick is to act on them.
Business Challenge
A Central London acute teaching hospital decided that it wanted patients staff and the public to have a say in improving the services delivered by the trust . It was seeking a solution for how to engage patients staff and users in improving service and to evidence that it listened to what these groups had to say.
Echelon’s Solution
From work we had done in other Trusts' we suggested the best way to improve services and boost patient satisfaction was to ask staff and patients for their ideas. The time had to be urgent as we had found that in garnering lots of ideas one needed to create a tight time table and a focused campaign that generated lots of small ideas, so we suggested a communications campaign based on gathering 1,000 ideas in 4 months. In that way a focused effort could be made and the campaign could be given a high profile.
Key Benefits
The initiative won the trust a national communications award, as one of the judges said
'It was a whole organisation programme with benefits not just for a few patients but for the entire population'
It demonstrated strong leadership, said another judge 'You could see it would change patient care, in part because it showed strong leadership from the chief executive'.
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Echelon’s solution
Research
We needed to get ideas to improve service, to show we were listening and to make a real difference to patient care and the staffs' experience of the Trust as an employer.
For this reason we took note of two significant pieces of research.
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Research shows that for every 400 ideas collected from staff and customers only one will have the 'legs' to make a real commercial difference.
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Research in the aviation industry shows that you need to employ at least 5 channels of communication to 'get through' to people.
Buy in
The campaign had to make it as easy as possible to suggest ideas so the trust's newsletter trailed the campaign and initiated a regular column for reporting action taken on ideas suggested so that the inevitable cynicism that accompanies communication initiatives wouldn't take root. Staff were also informed with postcards sent out with their payslips and Foundation Trust members by letter.
Design and Delivery
A series of structured focus groups were held for up to 200 staff and patients and an ␉ideas session was included in the seasonal nursing conference.
The 5 channel methodology was employed for collecting ideas:
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an email address
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a ‘call the CEO hotline' featuring a recorded message from the CEO inviting the caller to leave their message
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a 'scribble board' in the foyer for patients to register their ideas
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focus groups that invited members from the FT database.
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Novel TableMAPS used in focus groups to describe Trust values and gather ideas.
Communicating results
As the ideas rolled in they were collated in monthly bundles, catalogued and actioned. This was done using 10 channels including emailing all those who had contributed, using Patient/User Groups, Team Briefs for the staff and the trust's modernisation action teams.
Sustaining the initiative
The ideas culture was continued by using the TableMAPS in customer care training ␉and Patient user groups so ideas would continue to come in.
Evaluating the outcome
The surge in participation and the energy created saw the Trust's Annual General Meeting get its biggest ever attendance.
The ideas suggested ranged from ideas that helped to transform the service such as bringing patients in on the day of their operation rather than the night before through to meeting patient preferences by returning soup to the hospital's menu.
There were the blindingly obvious like no list of floors and departments in the lifts there was an auditory announcement of each floor but no list so users with ␉hearing issues were disadvantaged.
A 'bum unit' which was set up to swing into action if anyone in the hospital found a public toilet that was unclean.
Echelon, Angles House, 210 Sheen Lane, London SW14 8LB; 020 8274 9965