To think it's strange to be asked to fill out a firm stating whether I'd recommend my A&E dept?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

I have no qualms confirming what level of service I've received on a feedback form, but recommend the only A&E dept in the area? I think that's odd.

Aibu?

NHS friends and family test? Absolute nause!! Being rolled out nationwide I think?

I''ll tell you what's worse......everyone gets one at our hospital inc women who have had a stillbirth asking if they'd recommend the maternity unit. Not exactly considerate.

I get one whenever I attend my post-cancer check-ups. I hope to god they aren't sending those texts to people who've just had an appointment to tell them they have cancer, because it's all within the same clinic.

Sorry, that should have read 'I get a text'. Presumably I opted in to receiving messages at some point, but still!

Yep, everyone will get them regardless. My dad got one after a stay in hospital where he was told he only had weeks/days to live and was carried out the hospital on a stretcher semi concious to die at home.

YANBU at all - it's another example of someone with a bit of authority, who has never actually worked with people, having a bit of a bright idea without thinking it through, and then the whole systematic bollocks of staff / managers not being allowed to use their initiative to some extent when they see a bad idea coming at them.

Please complete your NHS Friends & Family questionnaires. Whatever your opinion, we staff get bollocked if they aren't returned like we control your minds or something

Ahha, I thought I wasn't being U.

There's a massive difference in rating the device you received and being asked to recommend something where there's no real choice for the user, or just crass when referring to all the awful examples given above.

Thoughtless.

Device = service.

The "would you recommend" test is a more intelligent way of measuring performance, compared to targets. By leaving the definition of performance subjective, it makes it harder for hospitals to game the system.

When I first heard of this test, it was going to be hospital staff rather than patients who were going to comment though.

I agree the question sounds odd, but you only need to imagine people get to choose the A&E they go to, in order to give a useful answer.

It doesn't actually matter if the choice is hypothetical, for the feedback to be useful.

If you were run-over by a train, and they amputated the wrong leg, you probably wouldn't recommend them.

If you had a slight headache, and they gave you some aspirin, a full brain tumour scan, and a massage by an attractive member of the opposite sex so you could destress, you would probably be impressed.

These questionnaires are horrible but those of us working in the NHS are under MASSIVE pressure to get them done
I hate having to ask patients to fill them in. All staff in my dept have minimum numbers to get completed every day.

I wonder how much it is going to cost for someone to collate all of this information (not sure what the response take up rate will be to be honest - maybe there should be a bribe in the form of a prize for patients to give their feedback).
We have to give a little card out to everyone (or a form for those that aren't on line) & then expect them to go on line when they get home to say if they would recommend our service.
Wonder how much the NHS thinks the take up rate of people doing that will be I can't even be bothered to push the buttons for customer service on the computer going out of Waitrose
In fact to make it much easier for people why can't the NHS have a similar system for patients on their way out of wards / departments etc (cost probably, but if they're serious about this survey-).
Whose idea was this? Patients will always complain if something is wrong & we get loads of lovely verbal comments re the service in the department I work in, but very few written compliments because people can't be bothered to write it down or haven't got time to put it in writing.

This is a national initiative. The principle that patients recommendations are a good indicator of how good a hospital/dept is oooookay. What is ridiculous is applying it blindly to every dept, every patient and making it such a bureaucratic target that it pisses off patients (and burdens staff)

Patients now have so many many places to voice their feelings: Facebook for most hospitals, Twitter, Healthwatch, NHS choices, Patient Opinion, PALS and smaller 'patient engagement' options. It's effing ridiculous. Put the resources into staff on the ground and you won't get so many complaints!!!

How are these surveys administered? Do patients get a hard copy, or are they sent an email with a link to an online survey?

Where I work they're sent via text messages.

Feedback is fed back to the team via emails where an admin person has pulled out the main answers. They don't censor the answers so you tend to see all then replies inc ones like, "you bunch of fucking insensitive twats. I'm planning a funeral and you're asking me if Id recommend you. I'm going to sue the arse of you you incompetent wankers"

We (staff) get them every month when we log in. You can't move on and get any work done until you fill them in. Funnily enough the Trust are very worried about the feedback they have been getting from these forms - well, no shit, Sherlock, if you are pissing people off by keeping them away from their work!

They always ask if you would recommend Trust X as a place to work. Then when you click 'No', you have to say why. So I put 'SERCO' as they have taken over our payroll, HR and IT and are utterly, utterly, utterly, utterly, utterly (you get the idea) shit. Did I mention they were utterly shit?

If I were attending as a patient I'd fill them in patiently, knowing what pressure staff are under.

Yeh, I had to fill one in at work recently. They are meant to be confidential but I'm not sure. Absolute bollocks. I tend to be fairly negative on my responses but not too much as I am certain they can track the responses to the individual.

I was just wondering if you could outsource answering them to somewhere like a call centre. Maybe a company like SERCO could do it? Perhaps if you created a sort of feedback loop the whole system would collapse in on itself?

Good grief - you can't choose what A&E you end up in!

Slightly different take - I had surgery last year and completed an anonymous form before I was discharged, which I posted in the box on my way out. Two weeks later I was sent the same questionnaire by post. I ignored it - well I'd done one already hadn't I?

Two weeks later, I received another along with a letter saying "we noticed you hadn't returned your questionnaire, so here's another". I ignored this too.

Two weeks later - guess what?! I received another one! So far I haven't had a third [or is it fourth now?] one, but how much postage did that waste? A4 envelope = large letter in the mail!

Feedback is always great, but if the customer doesn't want to provide any, just accept and move on.

I received one of these in Jan when I fell & dislocated my elbow. A&E were fantastic so I filled it in positively for the care I received over that incident.

However, the rest of the hospital in question is in the 'hit & miss' down to 'downright useless' range due to Consultants taking advantage (not the hard-working hands-on staff), so I notice I'm not sent these questionnaires over the Clinics.

Why should it only be A & E be the only one open to evaluation at my hospital ? It seems unfair & slightly weird to me.

I was given one of these to fill out whilst waiting at the breast clinic. The clinic were nice & efficient enough, but I really couldn't recommend the experience of waiting to find out whether you have cancer or not .

Thankfully I didn't.

for you, SantaLMB.

Please write 'I recommend you stop this crappy survey' on them and send them back.

I filled in a small card questionnaire (half A5) when I attended a fracture clinic (recovering from broken arm) at my local hospital last year. If I remember correctly, it was just boxes to tick and a space for a comment at the bottom.