The Moorfields Friends and Family Test (FFT) The NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) was introduced as a national measure of patient satisfaction in April 2015 for all providers of NHS care in England. It allows you to see what other patients think of the care they receive when visiting Moorfields and other hospitals and it allows us to understand how we can improve the quality of the services we provide based on what you are telling us.

The current national requirement is that all adult patients who are seen in Accident and Emergency, Day Care and In-patients or Outpatient settings are asked to complete the test. At Moorfields, we run the test at 51 wards or departments across the trust, and last year around 90,000 of our patients commented on their care using the FFT.

What is the Friends and Family test?

The test has the dual purpose of allowing us a measure of performance, for example we can see if all of our sites are giving the same experience, but equally it gives patients the opportunity, and we encourage it, to comment on the care they received and make suggestions on how this might be improved. We try and capture the thoughts of 15% of the patients seen

How does it work?

When you are seen in clinic, A&E or undergo surgery, you should be handed a card which asks:

‘How likely are you to recommend our service to your friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?’

You are then asked to select from six possible responses:

1. Extremely likely 2. Likely 3. Neither likely nor unlikely 4. Unlikely 5. Extremely unlikely 6. Don’t Know

The majority of our patients complete the test by filling in a card, but there is also an online version on the trust website at: http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/content/friends-and-family-test

How is it scored?

The score is a simple comparison of the percentage of those completing the test who would recommend the trust (i.e. Extremely likely and Likely) against the percentage of those who would not (i.e. Unlikely or extremely unlikely). Though there is no nationally set score FFT score required, however Moorfields has set its own benchmark of 90% of patients recommending the trust.

To see how Moorfields is performing please click here: http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/content/patient-experience

A second question invites a free text response by asking ‘What would have made your visit better?’ This allows us to understand where we are doing well and what the patients like about us, as well as highlighting areas where we could improve.

The results for Moorfields, as well as all other NHS Trusts in England, are published on the NHS England website and can be found at: http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/friends-and-familytest/friends-and-family-test-data/

What do the results show? You said: 96% of our patients are telling us that they would recommend Moorfields to their Friends and Family. It is for the things that staff of all levels like to see appreciated. The friendliness, kindness and care they receive from the staff, the effectiveness of the clinical interventions, long term care and Moorfields medical expertise, and the professionalism and support offered. Many patients name individual staff as standing out in the care they give, whilst others just express their gratitude for the quality of the care they have received with us.

Some typical examples are:

 “Everything was good! I had really good morning, joy! The Fields Technician was amazing, she made me very relaxed and was very vigilant while I was doing my test, the glaucoma department is excellent, receptionist was always helpful and welcoming, doctor was very clear in explaining my questions, I am really pleased.”

 “An excellent visit in all respets (45 mins in total) excellent, personable and cheerful and friendly staff, thank you, once again.”

“There was a long wait, but I understood why and the contact lens clinic clerk, was very pleasant, courteous and patient, as was the optometrist.”

 “Have been a patient for almost 30 years, the staff are lovely, appointments rarely run very late, information is always clear.”

 “Nice place, good service, good people, people come from miles around because they know Moorfields is the best place to come.”

 “Excellent care for my father, thank you for taking your time to explain things, thoroughly to me, very well mannered, and respectful nurses, and Doctors, thank you too.”

 “Everyone in the team was so very kind, caring and reassuring, and I couldn't have wished for better treatment, my grateful thanks to all concerned”

“Because the staff are all kind and gentle and made me feel at ease, they explained the procedure very well, and I feel that they really know what they are doing, I have complete faith and confidence in them.”

You said: Luckily, only around 2% of our patients who visit the clinics say they would not recommend Moorfields, and the reason they give is mostly due to delays whilst waiting in clinic or surgery and not being kept accurately informed of when they will be seen. 

“Staff are friendly of hard working, however waiting time can be long, staff need to keep patients, informed of delays and status of their appointment.”

 “A shorter waiting time, but appreciate the amount of work and patients you see.”

 “A shorter waiting time, between arrival and being seen would be great”

 “Keep improving on waiting time, there has been a tremendous improvement on times otherwise every other service is excellent”

 We did: We have set up and Outpatient Improvement Group to look specifically at the issue of waiting times. Some of the initiatives we have in place and others we will be bringing in during the autumn and are designed to ensure that our clinic run more smoothly and to create more capacity for the number of patients we see.

We plan:

• To have a floor walker in each clinic, to coordinate the patient flow, be aware of who is waiting and for how long, to keep patients informed of the reasons for any delay and to be the link between the clinic staff and patients yet to be seen.
• The introduction of ‘clinic pages’ so that patients who are waiting can go for a cup of tea, or stretch their legs and will be alerted when it is their turn.
• Prompt cards for patients to re-assure them that they will not miss their turn if they leave the clinic and to speak to the receptionist first.
• Introduction of a tannoy system so that patients who are hard of hearing will not lose their place.
• We are currently mapping pathways in two clinics to see exactly where any delays occur and address them.
•  At many sites across Moorfields, we have introduced evening and Saturday clinics. This is not only more convenient for some of our patients, for example those who have to work, but it also relieves pressure on our week day clinics.
•  We have introduced a ‘Virtual clinic’, led by an optometrist with support from a team of technicians, for those patients with stable conditions and who attend, for example, only once a year for check-ups. They have all their tests done and the results are reviewed by an ophthalmologist and should there be any change, they are invited in for a full appointment.
• At our satellite sites, if transport home is delayed more than one hour we arrange, where appropriate, for a taxi to take the patient home.
•  We have expanded our nurse led Moorfields Direct Advice Line’ in terms of both staffing and opening hours, so that rather than coming directly to Accident and Emergency, patients can call first and find the most appropriate route to take to get their condition treated. Similar advice lines are also being set up by some of our satellite sites for GP’s to call in.

You said: Though by far the majority of Moorfields staff are seen as friendly and polite, some patients have commented that sometimes the attitude of staff is not all that it should be.

We Did: Moorfields began a programme in 2014 called the Moorfields Way. This involved both patients and staff and identified behaviours that both would like to see exhibited. The aim is to promote behaviours in our staff, through recruitment, appraisal and day to day support that are caring, organised, and inclusive and strive for excellence and promote Moorfields customer service to the best it can be.