Finalist
Developing patient reported experience measures in cardiac surgery
Summary of work
Truly understanding a patient’s experience of heart valve surgery is the key to improving NHS cardiology services. This initiative is a strong example of the power of the patient voice, bringing together a group of 22 people including patients who had undergone heart valve replacement surgery to define what is most important to them.
Measuring patient experience through patient reported experience measures (PREMs) is vital to the NHS, and government policy suggests that service improvements should be driven by what is important to the patients, their carers and families. Historically the development of PREMs has been clinically-led with little or no input from patients. This initiative gave patients full ownership and leadership to develop measures which matter to them.
The measures developed by the group have been shared with the 32 cardiac centres in England and have also evolved the existing national patient experience framework with the addition of two further components that focused on the importance of ‘Patient Choice’ and ‘Financial Burden’.
The methodology we used has since been peer reviewed and published in the British Journal of Cardiac Nursing and supported by the national heart czar and NHS England’s Clinical Reference Group for Cardiac Surgery.
Judges’ comments
This is definitely all about the patients, with good participation of all associations involved. A rigorous and thorough process was adopted, which was peer-reviewed and supported by NHS England. Great to see something that supports the patient experience so well.
