West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Staff and Patients Setting Standards Together Patient Experience Network National Awards January 2011

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Why was it so important? Patient experience low, yet a key priority Recognition of low staff morale – focus on frontline & back office services for outpatients Needed a long term fix with maximum impact, ownership & engagement from patients & staff Emphasis on patient and customer care Especially with: Three hospital sites, outpatient activity on all High profile service relocation between sites, new models of care - inpatient, A&E, Surgery

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust What was involved? Agreeing the aims: –i–improve patient experience –r–raise standards and increase the Trust reputation –e–empower staff and patients –d–developing simple but clear standards for all –b–building on Trust Pledge and our standards –a–achieve with no budget and in house resource!!! Two strands of implementation Communication Strategy Trust wide Specific culture change driven by staff at frontline Consult DeliverEngage >>

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Consult Consult for both work strands Patients Staff Public/Visitors Foundation Trust Outcome 180 suggestions Interest and buy-in from staff/patients to the concept Patients / Hospital Volunteers Clinic nurses – all grades Health Care Assistants Doctors & Registrars Managers /Receptionists Health Records staff Clinic Preparation Booking clerks Medical Secretaries Outcome gaining trust, open minds new ideas, reality checked staff defining standards link to Going for Gold All leading to 5 Gold Standards Patients Staff Public/Visitors Foundation Trust

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5 Gold Standards

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS TrustEngage Posters & badges Series of 5 e- Gold nuggets Disposable food tray cover for all patient meals –Screen messages –Intranet pop ups –Business /reminder cards –Mystery Shoppers

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Engage – staff teams Contributing, listening & role play! Walking in our patients shoes Creating ownership of the work Introducing cross boundary team work Meeting of minds – admin / reception / clinical / patients /senior management Valuing all contributions & celebrating success with patients and staff together

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust High profile Opening Ceremony by the Medical Director - overwhelmed with attendees Gold ticket event – chance to win hamper of gold goodies! Assessment and Audit of every ward/department over 6 weeks to monitor adoption of Gold Standards Gold Medal Ceremony by the Director of Nursing –Gold medals for individual staff assessed as providing outstanding patient care –Trophies for the teams assessed as providing outstanding patient experience –Overall trophy for the team assessed as delivering best against the 5 gold standards – adopted as ANNUAL award Deliver – Communication

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Deliver – Patient Experience Significant improvements on National Survey by Picker Institute 92% of patients would now rate their overall care as good/very good or excellent (87.8% in Sept -09) these (July 10) results showcase a big improvement since the March 10 and Sept 09 survey (Independent Picker Report)

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Deliver – Culture Change Staff involved and keen to contribute Patients noticing a difference and commenting Outpatient teams working across disciplines to improve the patient experience Creation and implementation of new core behavioural standards by staff Staff proud to wear their badges & display the 5 Gold Standard posters Outpatient staff won 2 awards in Gold audits

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Impact Organisation wide –Patients empowered –Culture change towards customer care –Staff morale improved –Proud to offer gold standards –CEO receives more compliment letters My team like the simple easy to understand messages of the Going for Gold concept. They have been interpreted at a local level, but remain significant for all (Senior Nurse)

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust What next? The 5 gold standards included in all job descriptions Regular Independent Surveys to assess patient perception and experience Internal mystery shoppers & audits Future gold medal ceremonies Gold theme days (Health & Well-being) More e- Gold nuggets Continuing to embed in the organisation

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust What can we learn/share? Process must be owned by staff and patients Develop a branding to be proud of Simple, clear, relevant messages to all staff (not just clinical) Senior team and clinical involvement It is transferable process & format – but for success it must be local & relevant Big changes – low cost – major difference

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust The patient experience is Going for Gold your responsibility