I've just finished completing Real Time Feedback (RTF) in the hospital. RTF does what it says on the tin: (anonymous) feedback is obtained from patients and it's instantly passed on. RTF is carried out by central Trust staff, volunteers and governors. This was my first experience and I'm dead impressed. RTF uses a small calculator type device to enter a patient's responses and the device then sends the data back to the administrator's computer. The data is collated and within an hour of my leaving the ward, a report will be emailed to the Senior Sister for action.
There are twelve questions and the answers are multiple choice: sometimes a simple "yes" or "no". Sometimes ("how clean is the ward") more complicated: "very" "fairly" etc. They're well thought through and brought no confusion. There's a form where I can write up any other comments made or issues raised. I asked the Senior Sister whether she found the reports helpful. "Yes, very. I can take immediate action if a problem is raised, for example, if people don't know which nurse is looking after them: I'll gather the nurses and ask them to ensure they introduce themselves to their patients". I think the beauty of the system is its simplicity. I'm given the questions and the device (which is actually designed for school homework but which seems ideal for this purpose). I'm given clear instructions on how to use the machine and how to handle the process.
Despite the multiple choice answers, there's still the opportunity for individual responses. And I'm free to interview whomsoever I wish. I ask the Senior Sister if there are people she thinks I shouldn't interview (those recently out of surgery, for example) but otherwise, it's my own random sample of patients. There is room for some subjectivity and thus discrepancy. "Do you know which nurse is looking after you today?" could refer to the Senior Nurse or Ward Nurse or another. Interviewers will have varying amounts of time so will have more or less commentary to add. But on the whole, it's an excellent system. It's also not a static process: there's going to be a meeting of interviewers to see what changes need to be made. It's refreshing to see such patient empowerment. It's impressive to see how instant the feedback is and how quickly it's given back to the relevant ward. It's encouraging to see how simple the technology is. The corporate sector could learn a lot from Real Time Feedback: how to listen to their customers and how to act on their words.
