Patient Experience Toolkit + (PET+)

The 6 steps of PET+

PET+ is built on 6 systematic steps, that use tried and tested techniques to ensure effectiveness. To see the 6 steps in more detail, click on the image:

Co-designed in research with patients, staff, improvement specialists and researchers
Staff and patient representatives from 6 different healthcare settings (elderly acute; elderly rehab; ED; male surgical; female medical) were involved in the research. You can read about their experiences here.

Supporting research for PET+

Marsh, C., Peacock, R., Sheard, L., & Lawton, R. (2020). Testing a toolkit that uses patient experience feedback to improve care. Nursing Times, 117(1), 39-43.

Mills, T., Lawton, R., & Sheard, L. (2019). Improving patient experience in hospital settings: assessing the role of toolkits and action research through a process evaluation of a complex intervention. Qualitative Health Research, 29(14), 2108-2118.

Marsh, C., Peacock, R., Sheard, L., Hughes, L., & Lawton, R. (2019). Patient experience feedback in UK hospitals: What types are available and what are their potential roles in quality improvement (QI)?. Health Expectations, 22(3), 317-326.

Sheard, L., Peacock, R., Marsh, C., & Lawton, R. (2019). What’s the problem with patient experience feedback? A macro and micro understanding, based on findings from a three‐site UK qualitative study. Health Expectations, 22(1), 46-53.

Improvement Academy case studies
Since the research completed, this approach has been used with many more teams including community speech and language; a mental health acute ward; amputee rehab; rheumatology outpatients. We are continually adapting our support package to enable teams to benefit from this approach. To find out more, contact Laura.Proctor@yhia.nhs.uk.

PET+ reveals persistent staff and patient messages
We have worked with PET+ for 5 years and therefore know a lot about what patients and staff think, feel and need in order to improve experience of receiving or delivering services. These insights have been captured in 2 reports and outline persistent patient and staff messages that we have called ‘meta-themes’ which ultimately need to be addressed to improve experience for both parties. These meta-themes are about person-centred care and being listened to (patients), and the concern from staff that they are often not able to give the quality of care they would like.

We are currently piloting an additional initiative that responds in part to these recurring themes and in part to the low morale of staff within an increasingly pressurized system. This initiative could be appropriate where teams are experiencing particularly high stress or low morale and who are therefore in need of an injection of visible support from outside their immediate team before embarking on improvement work. For more information see ‘Lightening the Load’.