Friends and Family
Posted: Mon 20 August, 2018 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Thoughts 4 Comments »A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the dumb-ass “Would you recommend this hospital to your friends and family” survey that I received. Between here and Facebook, I received a number of comments from friends saying “Yeah, we keep getting those as well”.
So I complained to the hospital about it, and how stupid it was as a question, and how ill-thought-out it was.
Turns out, this question is that this is the “Friends and Family Test“, which is the NHS’ major/primary metric on what people think of their hospital visit.
According to the NHS, it’s “an important feedback tool that supports the fundamental principle that people who use NHS services should have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience. Listening to the views of patients and staff helps identify what is working well, what can be improved and how.“
Of course, that’s still garbage, because the question has absolutely nothing to do with what can be improved, or how the actual visit/appointment was. So it’s all a bit pointless.
So it’s worth knowing that if you are someone who gets a lot of these surveys, you can talk to the PALS department of your hospital and get taken off the survey list.
And finally, if you think it’s a dumb-ass question and a pointless survey, it’s worth registering a complaint with the hospital about the survey. The only way they’re going to learn it’s shit is if enough people keep telling them it’s shit.
I’m so with you on this.
I always honestly answer no, whatever the organisation, which must hurt their metrics.
I wouldn’t recommend a hospital to anyone (and my family being in Norfolk, they wouldn’t have the choice of my local anyway).
“The only way they’re going to learn it’s shit is if enough people keep telling them it’s shit.”
Unfortunately, ‘they’ know it’s shit already because at every point the people who are having to actually put the survey in place have been telling the people who insist on it that it is shit.
Example of shitness: at my place, the figures over the last 2 years have been within the same 2% margin every month, no matter how smoothly or badly the place is running. Some will always say it’s perfect out of loyalty and some will always say it’s rubbish because they’re not getting what they want.
“And finally, if you think it’s a dumb-ass question and a pointless survey, it’s worth registering a complaint with the hospital about the survey. The only way they’re going to learn it’s shit is if enough people keep telling them it’s shit.”
I wish I still believed that it works like that these days.
In fairness, it’s what worked for me. Made a complaint to the hospital, which got forwarded to the PALS department, and they were very helpful and informative.
I can’t speak for other hospitals etc., but making it a complaint to the hospital means they have to record it and deal with it in a certain amount of time.