Thame hospital patients take ‘The family and friends’ test

THE Trust responsible for providing care services at Thame Community Hospital, wants to find out what patients think of the care they receive there and whether they would recommend the hospital to family and friends.

In a statement this week, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “The Family and Friends Test is currently being used in wards of acute hospitals and A&E departments. Community hospitals will be required to use the FFT test from 2014.  However Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is already starting to collect this data so that we can better understand how satisfied patients are with the care they receive. In September all those that responded at Thame hospital said they were ‘extremely likely’ or ‘likely’ to recommend the service to a family member or friend if they required similar treatment. In October, 7 out of the 8 people who responded said they would recommend the service. There are a small number of inpatients who are treated at Thame hospital and therefore the size of the group surveyed is very low.

“This month we have also introduced patient experience tracker devices in Thame hospital so that patients can give real time feedback about their care. Patients can also submit feedback, good or bad, through our website or they can contact the Patient Advice Liaison service. Contact details can be found on our website.”