NHS England today took the next step towards expanding the Friends and Family Test (FFT) to all NHS services.

The roll out of the FFT will mean every patient will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the services they have received, enabling the public to make better informed choices about the services they use.

It also means providers will be able to design care services based on the feedback and around the needs of patients.

As it sets out to expand FFT, NHS England has today published comprehensive guidance for use by hospital trusts and the providers of NHS funded services, helping them to implement FFT most effectively for both patients and staff. This includes advice on how to make the FFT more inclusive, allowing people of all ages and from all parts of our community to provide feedback.

The new guidance – which is interactive and contains advice, videos, supporting materials and case studies – has been compiled after an in-depth NHS England review of the FFT in A&E and inpatient services since it was introduced in April 2013.

As a result of the review, NHS England intends to make the test easier for the public to understand and to gather more personal comments from patients.

The review found that the FFT – which has gathered more than three million pieces of feedback since its introduction – had made a positive impact on the NHS, with 78 per cent of trusts saying it had increased the emphasis on patient experience in their trust.

The FFT was also seen to have an important role on driving local service improvements, as well as boosting staff morale when positive comments are received.

The review also found the net promoter score was not easily understood and, as a result, the FFT will move to a more transparent presentation of the data which both patients and staff will find easier to understand and use.

Tim Kelsey, NHS England’s National Director for Patients and Information, said: “The key aim in setting up the Friends and Family Test was for the results to be transparently published and available to inform patient decisions and choice.

“The FFT has already gathered more responses than any other feedback exercise ever undertaken. The huge numbers of responses that have already been received, many of which reflect the positive experience of patients, provide a key source of information to inform the decisions and choices patients make about their care.

“We are already seeing many examples of the ways in which the valuable free text comments are being used to make improvements to the experiences of patients in our hospitals and communities. As we roll out FFT to the whole of the NHS its value will be further strengthened. I hope that this will create a culture where patients expect to be given the opportunity to give feedback, and NHS staff value and act upon patients’ needs and wishes.

“By April 2015, we will have introduced the FFT to millions of patients across thousands of providers of NHS funded services including GP and dental practices, ambulance, mental health and community services, as well as outpatients.

“We are going to continue to look at what the FFT data tells us and how we can continue to improve the way it is collected and used. This will include work to examine how we can make FFT more comparable to further increase its future usefulness in helping patients make informed choices.

“This reinforces our commitment to transparency, driving up standards and listening to the voice of patients from all backgrounds and communities in our society.”

Improvements made to services as a result of NHS staff acting on FFT feedback are wide and varied, from hospitals ensuring patients do not feel isolated, to improving the food they receive.

Other examples of the improvements made to services include:

• The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust received FFT maternity feedback raising issues over the new birth centre’s discharge process and visiting times for partners. As a result staff worked to speed up the discharge process for mothers and changed visiting times so partners can stay on the ward at night.
• The Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust bought in soft-closing bins in response to patients saying noisy bins were keeping them awake at night.
• A patient who uses a wheelchair told Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust the mirrors in the bathroom were too high. As a result full length mirrors were installed.

From 1^st December 2014, the FFT will be rolled out to GP practices, and from 1^st January 2015, to mental health and community services.

It will further be extended from 1^st April 2015 to NHS dental practices and patient transport services as well, covering acute hospitals outpatients and day cases.

• See the guidance in full on our FFT pages here.