Patient and Public Partnership Toolkit

1. Patient and Public Partnership Toolkit

2. If you have any queries, or need any support with
any aspect of this toolkit, please contact the
Patient Experience Team
Extension: 3739
Email: crhft.patientexperience@nhs.net

3. How do we use this toolkit?
This toolkit has been designed to be interactive. As you work through you can
click on the buttons, arrows and links to move around. This means you can access
the pages that you need, rather than having to go through the toolkit every time.
The arrows at the bottom of the page will take you to key pages.
Links will be in blue writing and underlined.
Try going to the Effective patient/public partnership – a framework page. There
you can either click on the ‘How do we use this toolkit’ arrow to come back to this
page, or you can click on one of the to go to another page.
Buttons
• What do we want to know? Gives you the contents of the
toolkit
• The framework will take you through the steps to
understanding and working with patient/public partners
• Approaches help you to think about the different ways
you can get feedback and involve patient/public partners
• The first time you use the toolkit, it is recommended that
you read through it all, however, the Quick Planner and
Checklist will help you plan your patient/public
partnership quickly.
What do we
want to know?
Framework Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

4. What do we want to know (Contents)?
1. How do we use this toolkit?
2. What do we mean by patient/public
partnership?
3. Effective patient/public partnership –
a framework
4. Why involve patient/public partners?
5. What do we already know?
6. Identifying opportunities for
improvement through patient and
public partnership
7. Who should the team include when
considering patient/public
partnership?
8. Who should our patient/public
partners be?
9. Defining and clarifying patient/public
partnership activities
10. Levels of partnership
11. What approach should we use?
12. How do we plan for the activity?
13. How do we invite people to get
involved?
14. What should we do on the day for
face to face activities?
15. How do we analyse and report our
findings?
16. How do we use our results to make a
difference?
17. How do we evaluate and monitor our
improvements?
18. Tips
19. Quick Planner
20. Checklist
21. How else do we involve patients and
the public?
How do we use
this toolkit

5. What do we mean by patient/public
partnership?
Patient/public partnership means that we listen to and involve patients and the public, so that
we can understand how our services best meet patient and public needs. ‘Patients and the
public’ include patients, service users, carers, relatives and friends (and will be referred to as
‘patient/public partners throughout this document). We should work with individuals, groups
and communities to improve our services. Patient/Public Partnership volunteers help us to
think about our services from a patient/public point of view, to improve patient and carer
experiences and to make sure our services are right for the local community.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
They do this by:
• Telling us about their needs and experiences
• Sharing their ideas and getting involved in service design
• Having a say on how our services and plans are delivered
• Telling us what we are doing well and where they think we need
to do better

6. Effective patient/public partnership – a framework
1
• Why have
patient/public
partners?
2
• Identifying
opportunity for
improvement
3
• Who should the
team include?
4
• What do we
already know?
5
• Who should our
patient/public
partners be?
6
Defining & clarifying
patient/public
partnership activities
7
• What is the level of
partnership we
need?
8
• What approach
should we use?
9
• How do we invite
people to get
involved?
10
• How do we plan for
the activity?
11
• What should we do
on the day for face
to face activities?
12
• How do we analyse
and report our
findings?
13
• How do we use our
results to make a
difference?
14
How do we evaluate
and monitor our
improvements
What do we
want to know?
Quick Planner
How do we use
this toolkit
Checklist
Click on the boxes to learn more

7. Why involve patient/public partners?
Patient/public partnership is about understanding and valuing the views of our patients, visitors, carers and
other members of the public. There is increasing evidence that involving people in all aspects of development
and provision of health services makes them more effective. Working in partnership with patients/public can
really help us to improve the quality of patient care through planning, developing and evaluating our services.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What are the benefits of
patient/public partnership?
• We can learn about patient/public needs and
experiences to identify specific areas for
improvement
• We can ensure that services are designed and
adapted to respond better to the needs of our
patients, visitors and carers
• We can keep patients’ needs at the heart of
everything we do and every decision we make
• We can see how our improvement plans and
activities are progressing
Patient/Public Partnership is everyone’s job
We are committed to improving the health and wellbeing
of those that we care for and involving patients/public in
service improvement is an important part of that.
Trust Proud to Care values state that we will:
• Provide high-quality, safe and person-centred care
• Build on existing partnerships and create new ones to
deliver better care
Patient/Public partnership is also a legal requirement
The NHS Act states that NHS organisations are required to
consult and involve patients and the public as follows:
• Not just when a major change is proposed, but in the
ongoing planning of services
• When developing, as well as considering, proposals
• In decisions that may affect the operation of services
Similarly the Health and Social Care Act 2012 places duties
on Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England to
ensure public and consultation in commissioning
decisions.

8. What do we already know?
National surveys include:
• Accident and Emergency (A&E) survey
• Adult inpatient survey
• Cancer Patient Experience Survey
• Children & young people’s inpatient &
day case survey
• Maternity Survey
• Outpatient survey
• VOICES survey of bereaved people
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Go to page 2 of ‘What
do we already know?’
National Survey Programme
National surveys from NHS England and CQC are
designed to be representative, enable analysis by
patient characteristic/demographic, track changes in
experience over time and identify opportunities for
improvement.
Local inpatient survey
The Trust undertakes a quarterly survey, which
asks the same questions as the annual national
inpatient survey. Gathering this data more
regularly helps us to improve in a more timely
manner and to identify those areas where we
are doing well more often. It also helps us to
determine how patient experience is changing
over time and whether it is improving from our
actions.
There is a wealth of insight already available that you can tap in to (much of which is included in the
Trust’s Patient Experience Reports); you might be able to find what you need to know from these sources,
without collecting more feedback. If you still need to understand patient experience further for your
service, then use this toolkit to think about how you find out more from patients/public locally.
Information
from different
sources can be
found in the
Quarterly
Patient
Experience
Reports

9. What do we already know?
Friends and Family Test (FFT)
FFT asks patients, relatives carers or visitors
whether they would recommend our services to
others; it includes an open section for more
feedback in their own words. We also ask
demographic questions.
FFT can help us to:
• Identify areas for improvement by analysing
responses from those patients unlikely to
recommend our services
• Monitor progress over time at ward, Division
and Trust level
We want to be survey
Patients who answer FFT questions by tablet or
online are also asked targeted questions in some
areas. The responses to these can be
triangulated with FFT and also give us outcome
measures for the Quality Strategy ambitions.
Local service surveys
Some services carry out their own surveys on a
regular basis. You can contact the Patient
Experience Team to find out more about these.
Research
There is a wealth of research out there about
patient experience. The following sites (among
others) might be useful for you to search:
• The Health Foundation
• The National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (NICE)
• The Beryl Institute
• King’s Fund
• NHS England
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Go to page 3 of ‘What
do we already know?’
Information
from different
sources can be
found in the
Quarterly
Patient
Experience
Reports

10. What do we already know?
Complaints, concerns, comments and
compliments
The Assistance and Complaints Team (ACS) record
complaints into a number of pre-defined subjects.
They can provide numerical and thematic data
from Datix to reflect this. They may also be able
to provide you with anonymised reports or case
studies.
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) in
ACS may also be able to share anecdotal
evidenced to illustrate common themes.
Independent Feedback
There are several sources of independent
feedback that are publicly available – these
include:
Healthwatch (patient/public comments are
also recorded on Datix)
NHS Choices
Patient Opinion
Social Media
You may also have access locally to feedback
from Governor Ward visits.
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Information
from different
sources can be
found in the
Quarterly
Patient
Experience
Reports
Incidents
Incidents are also recorded on Datix with
pre-defined categories. The Patient Safety
Team may be able to help determine
patient safety themes that offer some
insight into or associations with patient
experience.

11. Identifying opportunities for improvement through
patient and public partnership
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
You can use the sources from the ‘What do we already know’ slides to identify areas where your team or service
might benefit from improving, or you may have thought of something from what you’ve seen, heard or even read.
Patient/Public Partnership should also be built into existing work to plan, deliver, develop or improve services. This
includes Trust-level improvements to services, buildings or facilities. For each decision point or milestone in a
project, consideration should be made to whether the outcome could have an impact on patients/public. If so,
there is an opportunity for involvement; gathering feedback at these stages could support informed decision-
making and overall efficacy of service changes. Patient/public partners can contribute to transformational change,
service re-design and Quality Impact Assessments; where patient experience elements are included, patient/public
partnership would help bolster the overall validity of the process.
Go to page 2 of
‘Identifying
opportunities for
improvement
through patient and
public partnership’
Aligning opportunities for improvement with existing objectives, such as
the Quality Strategy, will help you to define specifically what feedback
you require and when. It will help you to build a clear picture on the
purpose of your patient/public partnership activity and how the
outcomes can be used to influence or measure improvement. It will also
support effective evaluation of the activity.
EXAMPLE
Staff are reviewing the falls risk
assessment. Before agreeing any
changes, there is an opportunity to ask
patients what they feel might
contribute to their falls and to explore
ideas for better self-management. This
may give you some ideas that aren’t
included in the form already.

12. Identifying opportunities for improvement
through patient and public partnership
• What is the patient journey like now?
What steps do patients have to take from
referral to/arrival at your service through to
when they leave your care?
• What is their experience like now?
Existing data about current service provision
gives us a baseline, so that you can compare
the impact of change
• Do you know what patients/public want?
Have you asked patients/public? Try not to
make assumptions based on how you feel as
a member of staff.
• What are the benefits for patients/public?
Identifying the benefits will help you to
inform patients and the public of why you
want to improve and of any changes you are
planning, progressing or have made in a clear
and meaningful way.
What do we
want to know? Framework Quick PlannerApproaches Checklist
When identifying opportunities for change, you should think about what would happen
through the whole patient experience. This will help you to think about changes that are
truly patient-centred and help to ensure any legislative requirements are considered.

13. Who should the team include when considering
patient/public partnership?
You will need to establish a planning team; a small team of people who
will plan the project, set objectives and make sure you are clear about
how engaging and involving patients/public will affect the service and
influence decision-making.
Drawing on the knowledge and experience of your colleagues can
increase creativity and broaden perspective. It also ensures that you
have more people supporting and promoting your intended changes.
A team-developed plan will increase the overall time and energy
invested in the project. Shared goals will increase the likelihood of
successful implementation of your plans.
Think about:
• Who works within the
service you are looking at
improving?
• Who is directly impacted
by your work and should
therefore be involved/
informed (staff, patients/
public and other
stakeholders, e.g. CCG)?
• Are any specific skills
required that anyone in
the Trust can support you
with?
• Does anyone have any
previous experience of
patient/public partnership
projects?
• Are any staff looking for
opportunities to develop?
• Are there any staff in
external organisations
who you can link with?
Clinical Leads and Divisional managers in your area must be
aware of the work you are undertaking. Their support will be
vital for the success of the project. They may also be able to help
with resources, such as time, people and maybe even funding.
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Remember, different groups of staff bring
valuable perspectives, you can include
doctors, nursing staff, allied health
professionals, admin staff, etc…

14. Who should our patient/public partners be?
Different patient groups and members of the public can offer
alternative perspectives with varying views, needs and
experiences of our services.
Finding the right people to involve can be challenging, as
patient/public partnership, by it’s nature, tends to attract people
with a certain level of confidence, interest and flexibility with their
time. Identifying the different groups of people who use your
service will help you to consider and secure a range of views
representative to the diversity of your service.
Having clear objectives will help you to clarify and understand
which group of patients you need to involve in your partnership
work. You need to make sure you have considered the impact of
your decisions on as wide a range of people as possible.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
Think about:
• What are we trying to
address?
• Which groups of people
should we engage with?
• Do we need their
consent?
• Do we need to listen to
any seldom heard
groups?
• How will we recruit
patients/public to get
involved?
EXAMPLE - Different groups of patients/public might include:
• Children and young people
• Carers
• Local communities
• Patients from the Peaks or rural areas
• Pregnant women
• People who do not speak English as their first language
• Patients with long-term or specific conditions
• Patients with additional needs (e.g. learning disabilities)
• Patients with social issues (e.g. homelessness, substance misuse)
You must also ensure that the level of
partnership and approach are appropriate
for your patient/public partners.

15. Defining and clarifying patient/public partnership activities
Define your Patient/public partnership objectives
• Clarity of purpose is a strong foundation for quality patient/public partnership outcomes
• Make sure you know what you hope to achieve by involving patients, carers and the wider
public – do you want feedback, or recommendations and ideas, or do you want to measure
and evaluate changes already made?
Clarify your patient/public partnership expectations and commitments
• Is this a one-off or ad-hoc activity, or are you looking at involving patients/public longer
term with ongoing engagement?
• Be clear with the time commitment and do not change this once people are involved
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
• Be realistic and honest about what is possible and
communicate how people will make a difference from the
beginning – nobody wants to spend time sharing their
views if they thinks nothing will or has happened as a
result. Make sure you give feed back on any changes.
Use the ‘Levels of Partnership’ to think about whether
your objectives mean you need to Tell, Listen, Talk,
Decide or Act with patient and public partners
See ‘What approach should we use’ to help you decide
whether you need a one-off activity or something
ongoing

16. Levels of partnership
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Acting with partners
Partners help us to develop ideas and to carry out any
associated actions
Deciding with partners
Partners help us to identify areas for improvement and
develop ideas and solutions
Talking with partners
We tell partners about current service provision or
proposed changes; we ask and listen to what they think
Listening to partners
We gather and review feedback from patients and those
close to them about our current services
Telling partners
We talk to patients and the public about current service
provision
Consulting
Engaging
Collaborating
Informing
Empowering
Levels of partnership range from simply providing patients/public
with information to collaborating on improvements and change.
Understanding this spectrum is key to making sure that everyone is
clear about what they are being asked to do and why.
Different levels of partnership might be relevant at
different times, depending on the reasons for
patient/public partnership and/or the stage of your
project.
Many service improvements are likely to carry out a range
of patient/partnership activities throughout the
progression of a project, particularly if they are large or
complex.
Different approaches to patient/public
partnership will link into different levels. For
example, you may decide to implement a
project advisory group to talk, decide and
act with partners, or you might attend a
Trust Members meeting to tell and listen to
partners.

17. What approach should we use?
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Checklist
Check first to make
sure the information
is not available from
other patient
experience insight or
patient partnership
activities that have
already taken place.
How do we use
this toolkit
Your approach should
match your purpose
and objectives, your
target audience and
patient/public
partners you wish to
involve.
Click on the approach
to learn more

18. How do we plan for the activity?
Write up a schedule
• Factor in the time it takes to design your
approach/activity and, if necessary, to advertise
for patient/public partners (how long will you
run your activity for? E.g. if face to face, will it
be 2 hours or more? If it’s online or via social
media, how long will you leave it up for an how
often will you re-post/tweet?)
• Think about room availability, if necessary
• If it is face to face, who will present? Patients
like to hear from clinicians and doctors, but you
will also need a facilitator
• Make sure you have enough time for any
presentations and discussions and plan
adequate breaks for face to face activities
• Plan enough time to analyse, evaluate and write
up, your findings before presenting them in the
appropriate place (e.g. Divisional Governance
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
Agree a budget – think about:
• Travel expenses and car parking
• Interpreters
• Stationery (e.g. flipchart paper and printing)
• Refreshments (if it is a full day, you will need to provide
lunch)
• Venue (if nowhere suitable at the Trust)
• Admin Support
There is no central funding for patient partnership, so costs will
need to be paid locally. You will need to be clear with participants
if you are unable to offer expenses for face to face activities.
If face to face, make sure your activity is accessible -
think about:
• The time/day you will hold your activity – people
may have work or child care commitments or
religious/cultural events
• The venue – is it easy to get to? Are there good
transport links?
• The location within the venue – is it easy to get to?
Do you need swipe access?
• Is the size/layout of the room appropriate for your
needs and your attendees?
• You will need to provide accessible and jargon-free
information appropriate for your audience
• Are there any special requirements, such as dietary
needs or interpreters?

19. How do we invite people to get involved?
• Talk to the Patient Experience Team –
they may be able to contact patients
who have expressed an interest in
patient/public partnership
• Advertise on websites and/or social
media forums
• Write an article for a magazine or
newsletter
• Ask the Trust membership office and/or
Communications Team to help
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
You should give patients, public and staff plenty of notice if you want them to get involved in
your activities. 6 weeks is ideal when advertising for participants, but we recommend no less
than 2 weeks notice. There are lots of different ways you can tell people about your
partnership activities, including:
• Posters in clinic, ward or public areas
• Flyers that you can hand out in clinic, ward
or public areas
• You can personally approach people who
you think might be interested in your
activity, but be sensitive and remember to
be clear that their decision will not impact
on their care/treatment
• Write to recent patients (again, let them
know their decision will not impact on
care/treatment)
• Attend community, support and/or religious
groups
if you want your partners to have
specific experience, think about where
they might see or hear about your
partnership activities and aim to
advertise there.
Go to page 2 of ‘How
do we invite people
to get involved?’

20. How do we invite people to get involved?
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
Your choice of how you want to tell people about your plans will influence the wording and
layout of your advert and you may have to stick to word limits for some options. However,
there are a few suggestions for good practice and your adverts should include:
• An explanation and overview of the activity you wish to carry out
• A clear description of the role, expectations and experiences of those you want
to involve
• The number of people you need
• The date, time and venue (remember 2-6 weeks’ notice)
• The frequency and duration of the activity (is it one-off or ongoing)
• A date to respond by if you need people to book
• A named contact

21. What should we do on the day for face to face activities?
The note-taker
Decide whether you would like someone to take
notes, whether you would like the attendees to record
their own thoughts on post-its, or whether you want
to use a flipchart – you might use more than one. You
may also want to record the session, but remember,
you will need to get written consent to record people.
Meeting and greeting
You should make sure someone is available at least 15
minutes before the activity is due to start, to direct
people to where they need to be. Consider having a
sign in sheet so you know who has attended. You
might also want to think about putting signs up
directing people to the venue.
Refreshments
Make sure you have drinking water on hand, and if
possible/appropriate hot drinks (and maybe even
biscuits!). If your activity is a long one, you will need
to provide lunch for your patient/public partners.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
Remember, at the end of the session, to thank people for their
time. A thank you goes a long way, especially when people are
volunteering their time.
It is also good practice to feed back the findings to those who
attended. Ask people for their preferred contact details so that
you can do this and give them an idea of when they can expect to
hear from you.
An agenda/guide
Write yourself a rough guide/agenda for the activity –
you can share this with attendees so they know what
will be discussed, but you don’t have to. It is useful to
have something that will help you keep to time.
The Facilitator
Make sure you have someone available to facilitate
your activity. The role of a facilitator is to ask open
questions to help everyone talk about their ideas and
opinions, whilst remaining neutral. They can also
ensure that everyone gets a chance to speak, that
discussions are not dominated by one person and that
they stick to appropriate topics. They should introduce
themselves, give an overview of the day and agree
some ground rules. They will also summarise and
explain next steps at the end.

22. How do we analyse and report our findings?
It’s really important to think about how you will analyse the feedback you gather from
your patient/public partnership activities. Considering this before deciding on your
approach will help you to collect the right information through the right activity.
Some considerations for analysis and ideas for reporting of findings include:
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
• The number and demographic breakdown of
participants
• Where your feedback fits into your overall
project plan
• A summary and description of main themes,
findings and priorities, including anything
unexpected
• Key recommendations and actions suggested by
patient/public partners – look out for ‘quick
wins
Feeding back findings
• How you feed back your findings and
actions to patient/public partners will
depend on your approach – ask your
participants how they prefer to receive
feedback.
• You will need to think about where to
feed back in the Trust – who needs to
know about your work and what you have
discovered? Does it need to stay local, or
should it be reported higher up
Divisionally, or Trustwide – remember to
share learning and good practice widely.
• The Patient Experience Team will also
want to hear about your findings
• You will also need to think about how you
will feed back to the wider public – e.g.
online/social media, newsletter articles,
Trust members email

23. How do we use our results to make a difference?
Once you have analysed your results you will need to decide what to do with them and where
to focus your efforts. If the patient/public partnership activity is part of a wider project plan,
you are likely to have action plans in place already – make sure your findings feed into this.
Your ward/service area should also have an improvement plan you might need to add your
findings to. If you’re not sure about an action/improvement plan, you can contact the Patient
Experience Team who will help you to translate your findings into improvements.
Planning Guide
• Set your goals and objectives and divide them into manageable steps and achievable targets
(action planning)
• Select a few key priorities for action – choose those areas that have the greatest potential for
improvement
• Celebrate positives and tell staff/teams what is going well.
• Involve patients in your planning
• Share your action plan and learning widely
• Regularly monitor progress and be prepared to change your plans, if needed
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
Example Improvement Plan:

24. How do we evaluate and monitor our improvements?
PPI Activity Evaluation
1. Planning – were the right people
involved? What were the objectives and
were these achieved?
2. Approach – which approach was used?
Was it suitable for achieving the aims?
What were the barriers/facilitators and
how did they affect the activity?
3. Participants – were the participants
representative? Were they proactive?
What was their feedback on the process?
4. Impact – What impact did the activity
have on patient/public partners, the
service, patients, relatives/carers and
staff? Was the information you collected
used to inform service planning or
improvement? What lessons can be
learnt for ongoing patient/public
partnership activities.
You should consider evaluation from the outset, as an integral part of your activity planning. You will
need to evaluate both your patient/public partnership activities and any actions and improvements.
Monitoring and Evaluating
improvements
• The Patient Experience Team monitor and
evaluate patient feedback on a monthly,
quarterly and annual basis. This is reported at
Trust level to the Board and Quality Assurance
Committee; it is also reported Divisionally.
• The patient feedback dashboards will hold
information about your service area – ask your
manager if you can have access to this (if you
don’t already) – the Patient Experience Team will
provide training.
• You may also wish to repeat your patient/public
partnership activity, or employ another
approach, such as a survey or observations to
see if any improvements have been made and
check that your changes are the right ones – be
prepared to change your actions if necessary.
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist

25. Interviews
What is this approach?
Interviews are discussions with patients, carers and
members of the public. They can be one-to-one or
involve a panel of interviewers. Interviews are
particularly useful for insight into sensitive issues or
when you want lots of detail. They can be
structured, semi-structured or unstructured. You
would use semi-structured interviews to explore a
topic in detail; structured interviews are less
flexible, but useful for gaining qualitative feedback
on a number of specific issues. Unstructured
interviews are less likely to be similar and,
therefore, difficult to compare against one another,
but can offer rich, detailed data.
When would we use this approach?
• If you want to engage with a small clinical
population
• If you want to gain insight from a cross-section of
people
• If you want to gain insight into the experiences of
people who may not feel comfortable speaking in
a group
• If you want to involve hard to reach groups
• If you want to involve people in evaluating and
developing services through detailed information
about people’s experiences.
• You might also ask your patient/public partners
to be interviewers
What do we need to do?
• You must have clear objectives before you begin your interview
process. What do you need to find out? Who do you need to
hear from?
• Decide whether you want to conduct structured or semi-
structured interviews and choose your interviewer, who you
may wish to be independent.
• Think about how you will find participants – see ‘How do we
invite people to get involved?’
• Develop, pilot and refine your discussion topics and questions,
based on your objectives. Have a defined interview script and
stick to it.
• Remember, interviews will take time, as you will need enough
participants to gain meaningful data – both interviews and
transcribing can be time-consuming processes. You will then
need time to analyse and present your data.
• How will you record your data? If you are recording the
interview, you will also need to develop a consent form.
• Will you interview over the phone or face to face? Make sure
your environment is quiet, confidential and accessible; book an
interpreter if you need one. Think about costs/funding.
• Develop an interview schedule and confirm interview details a
week in advance with participants.
• Share draft notes with your participants for comments and
corrections with an agreed timescale. Share the final version for
their information.
• Read ‘How do we plan for the activity?’ and ‘What should we do
on the day for face to face activities?’
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Have a look at our
example ‘Interview
Guide’

26. Interview Guide
Tell the interviewee who you are; explain the aims of the interview and how long it is
likely to take. Agree on confidentiality and anonymity to help open responses and to
make participants feel comfortable. Check participants are happy to continue and, if you
are recording the interview, ask them to sign a consent form. Use some initial questions
to ease into the discussion.
Introduce each topic and ask your interviewees about their experiences related to these
topics. Use probing questions, such as: ‘Can you tell me a little more about that’ or ‘Can
you give me an example’
Attitudes
Ask why participants feel the way they do about their experience. You could ask them
about their expectations and how that compared to what happened. Probe views and
motivations by asking questions like: ‘why do you think that?, ‘what makes you say that?’
Reasons
Prioritising
Find out what the participant feels is the most important aspect of what you have
discussed, or whether there is anything else they have not already mentioned that is
important to them. ‘Of all we have talked about, what’s most important to you and why?’
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
You can structure your interview around quantitative statements: ‘How strongly do you
agree with the following statement… (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither
agree nor disagree, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly disagree)”
Quantitative
Attitudes
You can then probe further, asking questions, such as: ‘Why did you give that answer?’
and using the laddering questions above to explore views and motivations.
Qualitative
Reasons
Semi-Structured
Interviews
Structured
InterviewsInterviews that follow a clear pattern can help participants to feel more comfortable and to ensure you get similar data
At the end of each interview, remember to thank the participant and explain the next
steps.End
End
Introductions
Start

27. Patient Stories
When would we use this approach?
• If you want a rich and powerful source of
information that tells you about individual
healthcare experiences
• If you want to capture useful evidence that isn’t
always captured in surveys.
• If you want to gain an understanding of the
experience of the storyteller and build a picture
of what it is like to be a service user
What do we need to do?
• You can source patient stories from lots of
different places, some of the most common are
through complaints/ concerns and incidents as
these offer great scope for learning
• It is good practice to share patient stories at
your meetings and our Board is presented with
a patient story every other month
• If you know of a patient story that you think
should be shared with Board (especially where
improvement is evident), then please contact
the Patient Experience Team
• Patient stories in person can be more powerful,
however, this isn’t right for everyone and some
people might prefer to share their stories in
writing, or through audio or video recording
What do we
want to know? Framework Quick PlannerApproaches Checklist
Sources of patient
stories include:
• Incidents
• Complaints
• Social Media
• Websites, such as
Patient Opinion or
NHS Choices
• Healthwatch
For guidance on
using patient
stories, see our
Patient Story
Guidelines
What is this approach?
Patient stories have proven invaluable to Trusts in
improving patient safety and experience. They are
powerful for galvanising change at an individual and group
level and inspiring empathy and action at all levels of the
Trust. They can be positive, negative, or combine
elements of both.
Patient stories help us to focus on how we are best able to
improve the quality of services and transform patient and
carer experience, through listening to and learning from
the patient voice.

28. Talking to People
What is this approach?
This approach is exactly what it sounds
like! Talking to people is an easy and
cheap way of getting instant feedback
from patients, carers and other
members of the public.
When would we use this
approach?
• You can use this approach constantly
– it is particularly useful for minor
changes/decisions and initial input
into larger projects, ideas or
improvements
• If you want to make sure that people
are genuinely involved at all levels of
the service.
What do we need to do?
• The easiest thing is to just go and have a chat – you
might find that people in waiting rooms, clinic
appointments or wards are happy to talk to you. You
might also want to think about having an
engagement stand, either at the hospital or out at an
event (remember there may be costs associated with
this)
• Although this approach is informal, it still needs
planning and you should think about what you want
to achieve, what you are going to discuss, whether
people will have time to talk to you and how you are
going to be inclusive.
• You need to think carefully about your venue and
consider whether people will be comfortable talking
to you in certain places and about certain topics.
• Think about how you will record the conversation –
you might want a suggestion box, comments log, or
have a form to fill out (either by you or the person
you are talking to) – remember to think about
confidentiality and consent and be sensitive to the
people you are talking to.
• Make sure you have reviewed patient experience
feedback already available.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

29. Focus Groups
What is this approach?
Focus Groups are usually one-off, semi-
structured meetings, where we discuss
plans for service improvement or any
issues affecting patient experience.
They are useful for exploring issues or
topics in more detail than other
approaches. Focus groups are
facilitated, but allow natural discussion
for patient/public partners to tell us
what matters to them. Focus groups
might focus on people with specific
experiences or similar demographic
backgrounds.
When would we use this
approach?
• If you need in-depth qualitative
information about patient, carer or
public needs and views on specific
topics
• If you want to involve hard to reach
groups, especially those with
communication needs (e.g. whose
first language is not English, who
communicate via British Sign
Language, or who cannot read/write)
What do we need to do?
• You must be clear on WHY you want to hold a focus group. What
are you objectives? What do you already know? What new
information do you need? This will help to guide the focus group
and inform participants to ensure you get the best possible data.
• Focus groups work best with a minimum of 6 and maximum of 12
people. The environment should be comfortable and accessible.
• 1-2 hours should be sufficient time for meaningful discussions –
use your objectives to prepare a list of questions, or agenda to
guide conversations.
• How will you record your information – will someone take notes?
Will you use flip charts or post its? Will you record discussions
(don’t forget to gain consent)?
• You will need one or two staff for recording notes and aiding
discussions, and a facilitator. Your facilitator should be
independent and aid objective discussion – consider asking a
colleague to help and offer to return the favour; you can also ask
the Patient Experience Team for help.
• Your facilitator will help to guide the meeting, make sure that
everyone is comfortable and that everyone gets to have a say. See
‘Notes for Facilitators’
• Make sure you have enough time to review your data – a 1 hour
conversation can take up to 6 hours to analyse.
• Read ‘How do we plan for the activity?’ and ‘What should we do
on the day for face to face activities?’
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist Have a look at our ‘Notes for
Facilitators’
Have a look at our example
‘Focus Group Agenda’

30. Focus Group/Workshop Agenda
Introduce yourself, the objectives and ground rules (e.g. confidentiality). Allow participants a
few minutes to discuss the objectives and agree the ground rules.
Ground Rules
(10 mins)
Each person should introduce themselves and say a little bit about why they are there in relation
to the topic. You may want to use an ice breaker, but people don’t always like them.
Introductions
(15 mins)
You can either set these yourself or, another good way to establish headlines is to ask each
person to write down two or three points about the topic that are important to them. Go round
the room and ask each person to discuss one topic for five minutes each. For workshops you
may want to discuss different topics in smaller groups. Ask ‘why it is important’ and ‘has anyone
else has had that experience’.
Headlines
(30 mins)
Focus
(30-60 mins)
Closing
(5 mins)
When everyone has shared their headlines, agree three issues to discuss in detail. For
workshops you may already have an idea of what you want to discuss, again, each topic should
be discussed in one of the smaller groups. Discuss each topic and ask questions to probe your
understanding of participants’ experience (e.g. ‘can you tell me more?’, ‘can you give me an
example?, ‘ what experience to you have of this?’, ‘how did that work?.
Make sure everyone who wants to speak has been heard and check there is nothing else anyone
wants to say. For workshops, you will need to all come together and share overarching or priority
findings. Thank everyone for their time and take this opportunity to tell people what the next
steps are and when they might hope to get some feedback on the findings.
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist

31. Workshops
What is this approach?
Workshops are similar to focus
groups but are often longer and
larger, requiring more than one
facilitator. Workshops usually start
with a group introduction and break
of into smaller groups to discuss
different topics; participants will
then come together at the end to
share their headline points.
When would we use this
approach?
• If you want lots of different
viewpoints in a short space of
time
• If you want in-depth discussions
on a number of inter-linked
topics
What do we need to do?
• You must be clear on WHY you want to hold a workshop. Is it a better
format than a focus group for what you need?
• Workshops tend to be over a half or full day, so you will need to consider
providing refreshments and lunch.
• Think about how long you need for meaningful discussions that cover all
your topics – use your objectives to prepare a list of questions, or agenda
to guide conversations.
• How will you record your information – will someone take notes? Will
you use flip charts or post its? Will you record discussions (don’t forget to
gain consent)?
• You will need a lead facilitator and a number staff for leading small group
discussions (this is dependent on the size of your workshop). Your
facilitators should aid objective discussion; you can also ask the Patient
Experience Team for help.
• Think about how you can use practical examples and scenarios to help
patient and public partners to understand, reflect upon and discuss the
workshop topics.
• Your lead facilitator will help to guide the workshop and co-facilitators
will help to guide the smaller group discussions. See ‘Notes for
Facilitators’
• Make sure you have enough time to review your data – a 1 hour
conversation can take up to 6 hours to analyse.
• Read ‘How do we plan for the activity?’ and ‘What should we do on the
day for face to face activities?’
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist Have a look at our ‘Notes for
Facilitators’
Have a look at our example
‘Focus Group Agenda’

32. Notes for Facilitators
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
What is a facilitator
A facilitator is someone who moderates a workshop or focus
group. Anyone can facilitate, provided they have an open
mind, are a good listener, and are happy to hear others’
views without judging or imposing their own.
The role of the facilitator
The facilitator’s role is to help people have their say on the
topic of the focus group or workshop:
• To guide the discussions following an agreed agenda, to
meet the agreed objectives
• To encourage everyone to express their views, without
judging
• To ensure no one person dominates the conversation
(thank them for their energy / enthusiasm, and give others
the chance to air their views)
• To listen to others’ views, not to take over the debate and
impose opinions on people
• To ask open questions rather than state opinions or facts
• To keep to time, so that people have a chance to talk
about all the topics on the agenda
• To regularly sum up discussions and prioritise key points
for feeding back in five to 10 minutes at the end
Introductions and groundrules
Briefly introduce yourself, your role (for example to help everyone in the
room to express their views and opinions on the topic) and your objectives
for the session.
Ask attendees to set the ground rules, which could include:
• Confidentiality and anonymity
• Listen to and respect each others’ individual views
• Participation from everyone who wants to
• Challenging points of view, not individual people
• Honesty and an open attitude
• Agree to cover all topics, and to move on if necessary
• Mobiles and pagers off, or on silent.
During the workshop/focus group
The following prompts and questions may be helpful for people to express
their views, and to move discussions along:
• Open: What is your experience? What happened to you?
• Probe: Can you tell me a little more about that?
• Probe: Do you have an example of that?
• Motivation: What is it that makes you say / think that?
• NB – avoid ‘why’ – we don’t want to second-guess reasons
• At the end, ask people to fill in an evaluations sheet or note on a post-
it/flipchart what went well and what could have been better about the
session.
Afterwards
Summarise key points of the workshop/focus group, illustrated with quotes
from participants, written as people said them.

33. Mystery Patients
What is this approach?
Patients (or carers/visitors) who volunteer to become
‘mystery patients’ give feedback on their actual
experience during their time at the hospital at any
time from arrival to discharge. Patient/public
partners are asked to record their thoughts and
experiences as they go through each stage of care.
They can fill in a feedback form after every contact
with the hospital or select to give feedback less often.
When would we use this
approach?
• If you want to assess ‘customer service’ or
‘customer care’ aspects of patient experience
• If your patient group is largely healthy or
managing long-term conditions – there must be
no clinical risk in participating
• This approach is more common in outpatient
services or general assessment of receptions /
signage etc.
What would we need to do?
All mystery patient feedback will be anonymous and
staff at the hospital will not know who the mystery
patients are. Because of this, mystery patients will be
facilitated by the Patient Experience Team, who will
recruit the volunteers and provide guidance and
support to both them and you.
All feedback will be strictly confidential. The Patient
Experience Team will analyse anonymised feedback
and circulate to your team, so you can consider any
changes to service or policy.
Remember, it may take time to recruit mystery
patient volunteers to carry out observations, so this
would not be a quick process for gaining patient
feedback.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
You must get support and approval from the Divisional
Leadership Team for your service area before carrying
out a mystery patient project.
You must not instigate this approach alone, as there
are potential ethical issues. If you want to use this
approach, please contact the Patient Experience Team.

34. Observations
What is this approach?
Observations can be made of clinical practice,
as well as values and behaviours. They can be
carried out by volunteers or members of staff,
who might observe care in a ward, clinic or
service, or who might observe experiences in a
waiting area. The Patient Experience Team can
also help you with observations. The observer
records their findings and feeds back to staff as
soon as possible, so the day is fresh in their
minds and they can see what they have done
well and what may need to improve.
When would we use this
approach?
When you have a clear idea of the standard of
service or care to be delivered and you want to
support individual services and clinicians to
deliver these standards on a consistent basis.
What do we need to do?
• Begin by identifying areas of service/care that need to
be delivered to a consistently high standard; make sure
that staff understand what is expected of them.
• Standards you may want to observe include, Proud to
CARE values, NICE guidance, clinical standards, quality
strategy ambitions, nursing/clinical protocols and
policies.
• For clinical standards, you will need to find observers
who have appropriate clinical skills, brief them on what
you expect to see and provide a form to capture their
observations, based on approved protocols or
standards. Tell staff that the observations will be
happening and when.
• For service standards, brief volunteers/staff to act as
observers and complete a feedback form based on what
you want to find out. Observers may also talk to
patients, carers and visitors if appropriate.
• Feedback forms should be designed with your
objectives / standards under observation in mind.
Break the form into sections (for example: Patients are
treated with dignity and respect; patients are
communicated with appropriately; patients are involved
in their care and treatment). You may also want to
provide observers with an opportunity to record their
own observations in a ‘free text’ box.
• Check with the Research Team that there are no
potential ethical issues involved with your observations.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

35. Experience-Based Co-Design
What is this approach?
Experience-based co-design is an approach that brings
staff and patient/public partners together, to co-
design services and/or care pathways in partnership.
When would we use this approach?
• If you want to fully engage with and involve
patient/public partners in collaborative service
design, development and improvement
• If you want to hear patient/public stories of their
experiences from their point of view, to reveal
(sometimes unexpected) areas for improvement
that can often be simple to overcome
• If you want to work alongside patient/public
partners to identify problems that can be practically
overcome and to develop implementable solutions
that benefit everyone, with potentially long-lasting
change that genuinely makes a difference to
patients’ experience
What do we need to do?
• First you will need to get approval from the Divisional
Leadership Team and set up a steering group, recruit a
project facilitator, and develop a project plan.
• Once you receive the go-ahead for the project, your
first activity is likely to be observation.
• You will need to make sure you encourage the right
staff to get involved in the process.
• You will need to identify suitable patients/public
partners and invite them to participate.
• You will need to make sure you have a comfortable
environment for patients to share their stories. You will
need to capture these effectively (usually on film,
which will have cost implications and will require
written consent), to provide rich information to guide
improvement. Films will need editing to communicate
the relevant points.
• You will need to run three facilitated feedback events,
one for staff, one for patients and one for staff and
patients together
• You will then be ready to carry out the co-design
groups where patients and staff will design and
implement solutions to priority issues, which will have
been highlighted at the joint patient–staff event.
• You will need to report, evaluate and celebrate the
successes of the project
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist
Experience-based co-design can is very time-
consuming. We recommend you use the
King’s Fund Experience-Based Co-Design
Toolkit for more information and guidance.

36. Emotional Mapping
What is this approach?
Emotional mapping plots how individuals feel during
their care pathway. The process helps staff to
appreciate how they can best support individuals
through patient stories and experience.
When would we use this approach?
• If you want to understand the positive and
negative aspects of a service from user stories and
make the experience either more, or less, anxiety
producing
• If you want staff and patient/public partners
(including carers) to work together to identify
emotional trigger points of and improvements to a
care pathway / journey
• If you want to re-design experiences, rather than
just systems and processes
• Emotional mapping can be used as part of
experience-based co-design, or stand-alone
What do we need to do?
• Organise a focus group with staff to map the patient steps
through your service. Begin by engaging staff in
identifying the steps a patient takes through your service
from arrival to departure.
• Organise a second focus group with patients to identify
when anxiety occurs (you can include staff here too, if you
think it would be beneficial). Ask patient/public partners
to identify where along the pathway they may feel
anxiety/stress and why.
• Use a long wall chart to map the patient journey and ask
participants to add sticky notes identifying emotional
trigger points. Agree the top five issues together.
• Either use the focus group or develop other engagement
activities with patients/public to identify and implement
ideas that would prevent or reduce anxiety before it
happens.
• Check results & make further improvements. Continue to
check with patients about their experience of anxiety to
gauge the effectiveness of your efforts. The Patient
Experience Team can help you to monitor this.
• Read ‘How do we plan for the activity?’ and ‘What should
we do on the day for face to face activities?’
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
The National Institute for Health Research
offers more guidance on emotional mapping

37. Public Meetings
What is this approach?
A public meeting can be either existing
meetings, open to anyone or could be
planned specifically for your engagement
activity. They are useful for informing people
of your plans and for hearing from a lot of
people.
When would we use this
approach?
• If you need to give general information to a
wide audience of patient/public partners
(you might want to use a Trust Members
meeting)
• If you want to find out people’s general
opinions of an idea or service change
What do we need to do?
• Public meetings take a lot of planning in order to get good
audience numbers. You and your audience must be clear
on what you can and can’t achieve at the meeting.
• Two to three months before the meeting, set a date and
book a venue - remember to consider your audience
when deciding on a time/place. Invite and confirm a Chair
and relevant speakers. Advertise and publicise the event.
• One month before the meeting, prepare the agenda and
agree it with the Chair/speakers. Arrange for any IT
equipment and refreshments. Think about the layout of
the room and roles for the day, for example, to welcome
attendees, take notes and take photographs.
• Make sure your venue is accessible and clearly signposted.
Have some registers available for people to record their
contact details if they wish. Make sure you have copies of
the agenda and/or any other relevant papers/handouts.
• After the meeting you will need to make sure you feed
back and answer any questions in a timely manner. You
will need to tell people what action you intend to take
following any discussion at the meeting, how long that is
likely to take and when/where people can expect to see
the next update.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

38. Meeting Members
What is this approach
This is where we invite our patient/public partners
to attend existing meetings, Committees and
working groups to ensure that our discussions and
decisions are patient-centred.
When would we use this approach?
• When we have meetings where important
decisions are taking place about a service and its
development.
• When you want ongoing input from a few
people on a specific project or existing
governance process.
• When you want a viewpoint from someone who
does not have any healthcare knowledge or
expertise, but who is able to ensure that
discussions, developments and decisions remain
patient-centred.
What do we need to do?
• Identify regular meetings where a patient
viewpoint would be useful. Discuss this with the
meeting Chair/members and agree a brief for
the patient/public partner role.
• Contact the Patient Experience Team to help you
identify members for the meeting – we do
recommend a minimum of two patient/public
partners to support one another and broaden
the viewpoint.
• Make sure patient/public partners are clearly
briefed on their role and expectations – this is
likely to be to listen to discussions, to check that
patients have been consulted and to assure
decisions are good for patients and those close
to them.
• After the meeting, contact the patient/public
partner for their views; write a report and
include as a regular meeting paper.
• Share learning from patient/public input widely.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

39. Advisory Groups
What is this approach?
Advisory groups are usually set up to advise on
a specific project. They are often small groups
of four to six patient/public partners who help
with all stages of the project.
When would we use this
approach?
• If a major, challenging or complex issue
requires careful involvement of
patient/public partners
• If you want a patient group to advise on all
aspects of patient experience throughout
the cycle of your project and to make sure
you maintain a patient-centred focus
What do we need to do?
• If you have identified a need to set up an advisory
group for your project, you will need to make sure
you have clear objectives and purpose.
• Develop a brief and expectations for members of
the group – outline what you can and can’t
realistically achieve.
• Think about who you want to be part of the group
and where you are going to find people to invite.
• Schedule meetings in line with the project timeline
and make sure that times and venue are accessible
for those attending.
• Make sure advisory group meetings are planned
and minuted in the same way as any other
meeting.
• Take the minutes to any relevant project or Trust
meetings for information.
• Maintain ongoing communication with members
and make sure your feed back to partners findings,
outcomes and evaluation at the close of the
project.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

40. Readers’ Panel
What is this approach?
Readers’ panels are for people who read,
review and test our publications, such as
leaflets and information sheets. When
you work in healthcare it can be easy to
forget that the acronyms, jargon and
terminology we encounter on a daily basis
is not always easy to understand.
When do we use this
approach?
• If you want to make sure your written
information (leaflets, letters, web pages
etc.) is clear, informative and easy to
understand, from a patient perspective
What do we need to do?
• Think about any patient information you have or that
needs developing that could be reviewed by the
Readers’ Panel.
• If you need new written material, you could ask
patient/public partners what information they would
like to see before writing.
• Write your information, as you think it should read
and then ask your colleagues to review – you can also
ask the Patient Experience Team. You should think
about the use of Plain English and the reading age of
the written information (it is recommended to aim at
an audience of age 8-12).
• The Patient Experience Team has set up a Trust
Readers’ Panel, which you can access, or you can think
about setting up a panel of your own if you need
specific knowledge, understanding and experience
from your patient/public partners.
• Make sure you consider all patient/public suggestions,
without losing the meaning of information that needs
to be provided.
• You may also want to use alternative formats, such as
easy read or different languages – you will need to
consider the Accessible Information Standard.
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist

41. User Groups/Forums
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What is this approach?
These groups or forums are made up
predominantly of patients/public, often with
long-term conditions and are usually for
specific services or groups of interlinked
services. You can set up your own group or
access community or support groups already
in existence. They provide a forum to discuss
care/service provision and review
developments to ensure they are in line with
patient/public need. They also provide
support networks to share information,
experiences and advice.
When do we use this approach?
• If you want longer term involvement with
specific groups of people
• If you have enough resources to support a
group/forum (if setting up your own)
• If you have the ability to act upon the
recommendations and information
gathered.
What do we need to do?
• Think about whether you want to set up your own
group or whether you can access existing groups – be
clear about what you are trying to achieve.
• Remember setting up your own group takes a lot of
work and you should only commit to this if you can
spare the time and effort – it can take up to 12 hours
to plan, prepare, hold and follow up a meeting. You
will also need to make meetings accessible - your
participants are volunteering their time.
• You can find members by advertising through
posters/online or writing to individuals. You will need
the support of the Divisional Leadership Team to allow
the time to spend on this approach.
• You can find out which local / national groups hold
meetings in the area and whether they would be
happy for you to attend and discuss your
project/plans/issues – make sure you are clear with
them about what you wish to discuss and achieve. It
may even be applicable for you to be a permanent
member of the group.
• You will need to prepare an information pack,
including background, time commitment, experience
required, terms of reference and any training
provided.
Have a look at our example
‘User Group/Forum Agenda’

42. User Group/Forum Agenda
Consult with your members to set a first date, time and location that suits as many people as
possible. Make sure you give plenty of notice (around a month) and find out about any special
requirements. Send the group your information pack, agenda and a map of the venue.
Before the
meeting…
Introduce any new members of the group and ask everyone else to introduce themselves. If it is
the first meeting, give members an opportunity to get to know each other and agree terms of
reference. You should also clarify and agree goals and objectives. Decide how/how often you
want to meet and set out dates for the following year. If it is a follow-on meeting, review the last
meetings minutes and actions.
Introductions
(15 mins)
Give patients room to talk about any experiences and occurrences they wish to share since the
previous meeting. Encourage people to talk about what’s good before moving into any issues or
problems, and before the group offers any advice or discusses ideas based on their own
experience.
Experiences
(30 mins)
Improvements
and Actions
(10 mins)
Closing
(5 mins)
Discuss any service improvements, proposals or documents developed since the last meeting, for
review and feedback from the group. Discuss and agree improvements that would be helpful,
based on recent experiences of the group. Agree any actions.
Make sure everyone who wants to speak has been heard and check there is nothing else anyone
wants to say. Thank everyone for their time and take this opportunity to tell people what the
next steps are and when they might receive any meeting notes or feedback.
What do we
want to know?
FrameworkQuick Planner Approaches Checklist

43. Surveys
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What is this approach?
Surveys (or questionnaires) ask respondents
questions based on their care/treatment or a
specific topic. They are useful for tracking
patterns, progress and trends to identify areas
of good practice or opportunities to improve.
They show if a problems is happening more or
less frequently over time and allows you to
collect information from a large group of
people.
When do we use this
approach?
• If you need data to see if services are
improving following any action or
development
• If you want to understand whether you have
delivered on specific improvement objectives
What do we need to do?
• You already have access to a large amount of local and
national survey data, including the Friends and Family
Test and ‘we want to be’ surveys; the Patient Experience
Team can help you to find and analyse information that
is suitable for your purposes.
• If existing surveys do not include the information you
require, you could ask the Patient Experience Team to
add a new question to a local survey, or help you to
develop your own – remember, developing your own
surveys will require admin time and resources from your
team, such as printing and inputting data.
• Whichever survey approach you take, you should always
be clear in your objectives and realistic about what you
want to and are able to achieve.
You can use survey data to:
• Examine performance
• Compare results over time
• Compare results with other organisations
• Compare results with other services in the Trust

44. Social Media
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What is this approach?
You can use Facebook, Twitter and other forms of
Social Media to share information with and ask
questions of large numbers of people
electronically. You can also ask them to respond to
questions or short polls. According to NHS England,
here are some 500,000 comments about the NHS
in England left on Social Media every week.
When do we use this approach?
• When you want to engage with a large number
of people in a short space of time with limited
resources; they are often already discussing the
issues you are trying to address
• If you want to gain a deeper and richer
understanding of people’s concerns and
interests at both individual and collective levels
What do we need to do?
• You could set up your own Twitter of Facebook
account, with permission from your Divisional
Leadership Team – remember you will need to check
this every day to respond to patients, act on any
issues and check that tweets/posts are appropriate.
You can ask the Communications Team for advice on
this and must remember to stay in line with
appropriate policies.
• The Trust Communications Team has Twitter and
Facebook accounts and the Patient Experience Team
has a Twitter account – you could ask them to
post/tweet on your behalf and/or ask them to re-
tweet/post what you have written. You could also
explore comments already posted.
• There may also be other social media sites from the
Trust or appropriate local services who might share
your information/questions.
• You can also review comments about our services,
other services, or health-related topics that have
already been left on Social Media – these would
usually be shared with managers within your
service.

45. Trust Members
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist
• NHS Foundation Trusts are accountable to the local community through their members. There
are over 10,000 members of Chesterfield Royal and their membership is absolutely key in
ensuring that we delivers Trust objectives.
• Each year, the Trust holds an annual members meeting, where you may be able to showcase
your service or ask people their thoughts through an engagement stand. You may also ask if
you can present at the meeting.
• Members receive regular newsletters and you may be able write an article, or ask to include an
advert for your patient/public partnership activities.
Contact the Governance and Membership
Officer or the Communications Team for
more information or visit the Membership
page on the website.

46. Quick Planner
ApproachesWhat do we
want to know? Framework
How will you report and evaluate your patient/public partnership work?
You will need to think carefully and plan in advance how you will report and evaluate the activity
How will you tell people about your plans?
You will need to plan your patient partnership activity in
detail
You will need to make sure you communicate with all of
those who will be involved in or affected by the work
Do you have the right approach?
Your approach should match your purpose and current
audience
Make sure you do not already have this information
somewhere else
Have you thought about key questions?
What information
do you need?
How will you use
the information?
What resources
do you have?
Who will your
partners be?
What approach
will you use?
How will you plan
and prepare?
Who is your team?
You will need a small team of people to help you plan your
patient/public partnership work.
You will need to set clear objectives and understand how
your partnership work will influence improvement
Checklist How do we use
this toolkit

47. Tips
Think creatively about who/when/where/how to work in partnership with patients and the public! They can be
involved in a whole range of activities. Patient/public partners can support you in the form of consultation,
collaboration and/or user-led projects.
Talk to colleagues – you may be able to support one another and swap ideas for patient/public partnership and
improvement. Join the Patient Experience Forum. (ADD HYPERLINK)
Be clear with patients/public and colleagues about your requirements and expectations of partnership.
Involve people as early as possible in your improvement planning.
Communication and dissemination of information are key - make sure you engage with patients and the public,
providing regular updates, with lay language that is clear, concise and easy to understand.
Continue to update stakeholders, even when your project is finished – explain if/why there is a wait between
different stages.
Remember, patient/public partner’s comments and personal details should be kept confidential, unless
otherwise agreed with individuals.
Try to be as inclusive as possible with the patients/public you involve in your improvements.
Allow at least two weeks’ notice for patients/public to get involved in your activities.
Involve at least six people in a focus group and at least two in meetings where staff are also members.
Rewarding your patient/public partners doesn’t have to be about money – a public thank you or an
acknowledgement of their hard work is good practice.
Remember to learn from your previous activities! What went well? What didn’t go so well?
Remember, you can contact the Patient experience Team for advice on any aspects of improving patient
experience. Email: CRHFT.PatientExperience@nhs.uk
Approaches
What do we
want to know?
Framework Quick Planner Checklist

48. Checklist
Gathering Feedback:
Are you clear about what you want to find out? Yes / No
Are you clear about how you will use your
findings?
Yes / No
Have you reviewed existing data? Yes / No
Do you know who you need to be your partners? Yes / No
Choosing your approach – are you clear whether you will:
Learn about people’s needs/views? Yes / No
Design improvements or consult on changes? Yes / No
Involve people in making decisions? Yes / No
Monitor/measure progress? Yes / No
Planning your activities:
Do you have a clear plan? Yes / No
Do you know if you need consent / how you will
obtain it?
Yes / No
Do you know how you can involve a diverse range
of people?
Yes / No
Do you know how you will keep people
informed?
Yes / No
Understanding your findings:
Have you examined your feedback to identify
priorities?
Yes / No
Have you identified success and good practice to
celebrate?
Yes / No
Do you know how you will analyse your results? Yes / No
Sharing Results:
Do you know who your stakeholders are? Yes / No
Do you know how you will involve stakeholders in
sharing results?
Yes / No
Do you know who your key audiences are? Yes / No
Do you have a clear communication
strategy/plan?
Yes / No
Action planning:
Do you have an action plan with priorities and
timings?
Yes / No
Have you identified improvement champions? Yes / No
Have you identified support from all relevant staff
groups (e.g. clinical, managerial, administrative,
support)?
Yes / No
Do you have a clear plan how you will involve
patient/public partners in action planning?
Yes / No
Do you have support of senior managers? Yes / No
Maintaining progress:
Do you know if you are implementing ‘quick wins’
and/or long-term changes with greater impact?
Yes / No
Do you know how you will measure the impact of
your changes?
Yes / No
Do you know how you will report your findings? Yes / No
Do you know how and where you will report and
communicate the progress of improvements in
patient experience?
Yes / No
Approaches
What do we want
to know?
Framework Quick Planner How do we use this toolkit

49. How else do we involve patients and the public?
Patient and Carer Involvement
Like NHS England, we want to encourage the
development of relationships between patients,
carers and clinicians, where they work together, in
equal partnership, to make decisions and agree
care plans.
The National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (NICE) also advocate that “Patients are
actively involved in shared decision making and
supported by healthcare professionals to make
fully informed choices about investigations,
treatment and care that reflect what is important
to them.” You can find out more here.
Key priorities for the Trust include:
• Ensuring patients are involved and supported
by healthcare professionals to make choices
• Identifying and supporting carers and involving
them as partners in care
Shared Decision-Making
The Government’s ambition is to achieve
healthcare outcomes that are amongst the best in
the world – “no decision about me, without me”.
This can only be realised by involving patients fully
in their own care, with decisions made in
partnership with clinicians, rather than by clinicians
alone.
Shared Decision Making is a process in which
patients can review their treatment options and
participate actively with their healthcare
professional in making decisions.
With current, clinical information, relevant to their
particular condition, about all the options available
to them patients are helped to work through any
questions they may have, explore the options
available, and take a treatment route which best
suits their needs and preferences.
NHS England aim to provide healthcare
professionals, patients and the public with a range
of tools and resources to help with Shared Decision
Making – you can find out more here.What do we
want to know?
Framework
Quick Planner
Approaches
Checklist