This resource is for people with designated responsibility for improving patient experience – both as providers of services and as commissioners. It is intended to provide you with the evidence you need to influence others – both at board level and team level, to focus on improving patient experience.

The content that follows provides a rich source of research evidence, stories from patients and staff and many examples of innovative ideas. It also illustrates a range of well-tested techniques to help you work more closely with patients to understand their experience and use it to improve services.

In 2010 the Department of Health and the NHS Institute commissioned King's College London and The King's Fund to undertake research into: What Matters To Patients? Developing the Evidence Base for Measuring and Improving Patient Experience. The research findings are referenced throughout this resource (and the full reports available), in addition to case studies from across health services and resources provided by people working to improve services.

Is your organisation focused to deliver a positive patient experience in a consistent way?

Patients tell us that they care about their experience of care as much as clinical effectiveness and safety. They want to feel informed, supported and listened to so that they can make meaningful decisions and choices about their care. They want to be treated as a person not a number and they value efficient processes.

The Government has made it clear that the patient experience is a crucial part of quality healthcare provision.  The NHS Constitution, the Outcomes Framework 2011/12 and the NICE Quality Standards for Experience and Mental Health Experience all reinforce the need for patient centred care.

We encourage you to join the patient experience online community to learn from others and share your own challenges and stories with a network of people working across health and social care services to improve services for patients and families.

We hope that you enjoy using this resource and we would welcome your feedback and comments, suggestions for future content as well as offers for material. Get in touch here.

Thank you,

Sam Hudson and Alison Kirk, Transforming Patient Experience Programme Leads.