The Friends and Family Test (FFT) asks patients whether they would recommend hospital wards, A&E departments and maternity services to their friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment.
Your experience matters.
How will I be able to provide the feedback?
When you are discharged from hospital or an attendance at an appointment, you may be asked by:
- text
- automated phone message
- feedback card
- online
What will I be asked?
You will be asked to please help us improve our services by answering the following:
"Overall, how was your experience of our service?" and you will be invited to respond to the question by choosing one of six options, below:
- very good
- good
- neither good nor poor
- poor
- very poor
- don’t know
It is important that you are given the opportunity to explain why you have given your answer, so please answer any follow-up questions.
“Please can you tell us why you gave your answer?” and
“Please tell us about anything that we could have done better?”
Do I have to give feedback?
No. Your answer is voluntary. But we are extremely grateful for your feedback as it provides valuable information to help ensure our patients have the best possible experience of care. If you receive the survey and you do not wish to take part, you can simply reply ‘STOP’ when you receive the text message or hang up when you receive the call.
If you do not want to be contacted for the Friends and Family Test then please inform a member of staff and we will ensure you are not contacted.
Do I have to pay for the text or voice message?
No. Responses are free.
Will you know it was me who provided the feedback?
No - your answer will not be traced back to you and your details will not be passed on to anyone. It is completely anonymous. If you do want to discuss your care please do that by talking to the member of staff caring for you. All of the feedback is collected independently and reports are produced for each ward as well as the Trust.
What do you do with the feedback you get?
We will gather the results and analyse them to see where we can make improvements or explore your suggestions further. If your comments are complimentary we will of course pass on your praise to the staff that cared for you. Our matrons and ward managers will also receive a full copy of the feedback for their specific ward, service or department to enable them to discuss and share with the rest of the team and take the appropriate action if required.
Your feedback will be combined with that of other patients to create an overall score for the particular ward, service area or department. This is the score which is published on the NHS England website every month. Results are published nationally each month and you can view them in our quality and safety section of the website.
If you would prefer to give your feedback at a later stage you can follow this link online: http://ratenhs.uk/04oKBI
