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| NHS Friends and Family Test | |
|---|---|
| Name | NHS Friends and Family Test |
| Type | Patient feedback programme |
| Established | 2013 |
| Founder | Department of Health and Social Care |
| Area served | United Kingdom |
NHS Friends and Family Test is a patient feedback mechanism introduced in England in 2013 to gather near‑real‑time views on experiences of care. It was launched amid wider service‑improvement initiatives associated with health sector reforms and accountability measures. The Test sought to provide simple quantitative and qualitative signals to inform local managers, national bodies and elected officials about satisfaction with services.
The initiative was announced by the Department of Health and Social Care during the tenure of Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State for Health (UK), following inquiries that referenced cases such as Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry and high‑profile reviews involving Francis Report. Its origins intersect with policy work from the Care Quality Commission, the National Audit Office, and debates in the House of Commons about transparency and patient safety. Early pilots involved trusts such as Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust, and drew on methodologies from patient experience programmes in organizations like NHS Scotland and NHS Wales.
The core question asked respondents whether they would recommend the service to friends and family, alongside follow‑up prompts for reasoned responses. The format mirrored aspects of commercial satisfaction tools used by corporations such as Amazon (company), Tesco, and Marks & Spencer, while adapting for public sector oversight similar to work by King's Fund and Nuffield Trust. Survey modes included face‑to‑face, telephone, paper and digital interfaces comparable to platforms used by Google and Apple Inc.; supplementary demographic items referenced standard classifications used in reports by the Office for National Statistics.
Implementation was mandated across settings including accident and emergency, inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, mental health units and community services such as those provided by Community Health Partnerships (CHP). Providers involved ranged from large acute trusts like Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to smaller organizations such as Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and independent sector partners like Serco Group plc. Devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland pursued analogous but distinct schemes, leading to comparative analyses with agencies including Public Health England and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Data were collated locally and uploaded to national repositories maintained by bodies including the Care Quality Commission and aggregated for ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care. Reporting cycles fed into dashboards similar to those used by NHS Digital and visualisation projects by institutions like The King's Fund and Health Foundation. Academic analyses appeared in journals associated with University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and policy reviews by think tanks such as Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Reception was mixed. Advocates including figures cited in Department of Health and Social Care briefings argued the Test increased transparency alongside other reforms championed during the premiership of David Cameron and the administrations of successive Prime Minister of the United Kingdom incumbents. Critics from patient advocacy groups and professional bodies such as Royal College of Nursing, British Medical Association, and campaigners connected to cases like Francis Report highlighted sampling bias, response rates and potential gaming. Academics from University College London, Imperial College London, and King's College London published critiques regarding validity, echoing concerns raised in analyses from Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation.
Findings influenced local quality improvement initiatives, board‑level performance reviews at organisations such as NHS England and workforce training programmes linked to trusts like Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. The Test contributed evidence used in commissioning decisions by bodies such as Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)s and informed inspections by the Care Quality Commission. It intersected with policy instruments including the National Health Service Act 2006 and later regulatory guidance shaping patient involvement, and informed parliamentary debates in the House of Commons and select committee inquiries.
Collection and storage of patient feedback implicated data protection frameworks overseen by the Information Commissioner's Office. Providers had to align processes with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Legal counsel from entities such as NHS Resolution and in‑house teams at trusts like Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advised on consent, anonymisation and publication practices to mitigate risks under statutes and regulatory standards.
Category:Health care in the United Kingdom