In the last of a series of blogs marking Experience of Care Week 2018, the Chief Nursing Officer for England calls on everyone to continue to talk, share and be inspired:

I’ve been overwhelmed to see how much great work has been going on around the world as part of this second year of Experience of Care Week.

It reminds me of the question I posed for the first Experience of Care Week: ‘Why is the experience of care or the experience of being part of the team delivering care so important?’

It really is quite simple; experiences matter to all those involved in both receiving and delivering care.

We have seen that everyone has a part to play in creating and delivering experiences and we want to promote an all-encompassing approach to improving those experiences of care. Whether that be for the patient who is admitted to A&E after calling for an ambulance; or the carer who supports their family member with daily routine; or the volunteers who work in the hospitals to aid patients through their journey; or even the staff member who is having a difficult shift and gets support from their colleagues.  We are all the patient experience.

I was particularly pleased to see that our important work to embed ‘Always Events’ has reached an amazing 100 trusts that have signed up to ways of truly working together with patients, service users, families, carers and frontline staff to improve experience of care.

This is so encouraging to hear as it shows how co-production working is making great movements in the way improvements are designed, tested and implemented by asking ‘What matters most to you?’ As we move towards collaborative care systems, we can learn from these co-production ways of working to design services that will have increased benefits for all.

This week I spoke at the Queens Nursing Institute Annual Meeting about my future vision for Primary Care and Community Nursing and the vital role of nursing, midwifery and care staff in delivering the triple aim of better outcomes, better experiences and use of resources.  And today I am visiting Surrey Health Integrated Care services to see how collaborative care systems are playing a vital role in patient pathways.

I continue to be motivated and proud when I see how staff across the health and care system are working to improve experiences of care for patients and those in our care.

Once again, we have joined forces with The Beryl Institute and colleagues in NHS Improvement. We have heard about the global perspectives on Patient Experience and talked about the similarities and differences, shared the challenges and celebrated the successes which happen in the English, U.S and global healthcare systems.  It’s sharing with, and learning from each other, that helps us to make these powerful advances, and gain support from those who have tried and tested pathways to increasing experiences. We plan to continue these connections going forward.

As we near the end of this dedicated week of sharing, improving and showcasing our work to do the best for our patients and those we care for, I encourage you all to continue to talk, share and be inspired to make the changes that improve the overall experiences of care.  Keep using the hashtag #ExpofCare to keep in touch with the conversations as they continue.

And finally, as you may be aware, this is a particularly important year for the NHS. It’s the NHS’s 70th birthday and I for one will be reflecting on the changes that I have seen through my career, from when I first joined our amazing health service as a student Nurse. The developments that have made the NHS what it is today have only been possible with our dedicated staff, volunteers, carers, patients and families and I encourage you to join in around the country with all the celebrations.

Thank you for all the hard work you continue to do and please do continue to share, showcase and demonstrate your work to improve Experience of Care.

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