Patient Satisfaction in Clinical Audits

UK Government

The Health Secretary, the Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, in setting out his mission for saving the NHS earlier this year, stated his aim to return to the “highest patient satisfaction in history”. Giving patients a voice, and then listening to it, will be crucial to the success of this mission.

In regard to clinical audits, the principles underpinning these recommendations are well represented within new workstreams commissioned by the UK Government and NHS England. NHS England is undertaking work to understand what already exists across clinical audits and wider, particularly those related to blood, to clarify where there might be gaps in patient involvement and satisfaction/concern reporting and what more can be done to support these recommendations. There may be other measures, alongside what already exists, like Friends and Family Test to better understand patient experience. There are interdependencies with multiple other programmes and strategies to capture patient voice being taken forward by NHS England such as the HaemTrack app and in light of 10YHP policy developments, which will require careful thought and consideration.

Scottish Government

There is currently some patient involvement in audit steering groups and Public Health Scotland has been considering the best ways to engage patients in future and planned audits. The Scottish Government MOU with Public Health Scotland, in relation to the Scottish National Audit Programme, has the requirement to ensure patient voice and experience is included in the development of new audits. The Scottish Government will also build on existing work utilising patient experience data at a Board level or across specialties gathered via Care Opinion (a patient experience platform used by all NHS Boards across Scotland). Once appointed, the newly established Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland will focus on raising the profile of the patient voice.

Welsh Government

On 10a) i., in Wales, the Patient Experience Programme has developed the Peoples Experience Framework and Peoples Experience Survey in partnership with Welsh Government, NHS health boards and Trusts; Llais (the citizen’s voice body) and third sector organisations. It builds upon the Assuring Service User Experience Framework, and the Patient Reported Experience Measure mechanism launched in 2013.

Guidance was issued to NHS Wales and professionals in the Autumn 2024. Organisations will be fully supported with the transition and preparation for the formal Go Live of the People’s Experience Framework and People’s Experience Survey April 2025. The Health Boards have established governance structures to oversee, audit and report patient feedback to the quality, safety, and patient experience committees, and ultimately to the board. The revised framework empowers organisations to evaluate their current position and to develop an ambitious improvement plan.

The NHS Wales Performance Framework for 2025-2026 emphasizes the creation of a higher value health and social care system in Wales, as outlined in Quadruple Aim 4. This aim focuses on rapid improvement and innovation, enabled by data and centred on outcomes. One of the key Performance measures for 2025/26 (measure 45) under this aim is the number of people experience surveys completed and recorded on the CIVICA platform.

Since August 2023, the people experience survey initiative has been piloted in Emergency Department (ED) settings and it was rolled out in full across all NHS services in April 2025. The results of the people experience surveys are now captured via the CIVICA platform and displayed on the BEACON Dashboard. These findings are shared at monthly Integrated Quality Performance Delivery (IQPD) forums to ensure continuous improvement and informed decision-making.

Northern Ireland Executive

In Northern Ireland, an Infected Blood Stakeholder Group was set up as part of the work around the establishment of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, and this group has been kept updated and engaged on the local response to the IBI report.

This group includes representatives from Haemophilia NI, Families and Friends of Haemophilia NI and the UK Haemophilia Society, as well as members of the infected and affected community.

Specific discussions have also been held in relation to Recommendations 10a) ii. and iii. in order to identify the best approach and mechanism to support the advocacy and support functions of the local voluntary and community sector organisations.

Next Steps

DHSC are developing options following the initial review of clinical audits to explore how best to support patient experience measures. The response will depend on the scope and scale of the requirements, and their associated costs.