NHS Friends and Family Test Spotlight Week 14th – 18th March
The Friends and Family Test (FFT) Spotlight Week, from the 14th March to the 18th March, aims to encourage patients and the public to share feedback on NHS services you are using.
The Friends and Family Test provides every patient with the chance to have your say on the care you have received – this could be GPs, pharmacists, hospitals or dentists. The Test asks whether you would recommend the services you have used, with further questions enabling patients to share good or bad experiences.
Feedback gathered does make a difference. Patient’s experiences are shared with healthcare providers so they can understand what they can do better, where improvement is needed or highlight where things are working well. It is quick and easy to have your say, and you can share anonymously.
FFT has produced more than 10 million pieces of feedback, with at least nine out of ten patients having positively recommended services to friends or family members (NHS online). Feedback gathered has already promoted thousands of changes, large and small, to improve services now and in the future.
You can find out more about the Friends and Family Test here or download the NHS’s short guide for patients here
How is Healthwatch Birmingham playing its part?
Healthwatch Birmingham promotes the Friends and Family Test through our Feedback Centre. This provides people with a free and simple route to feedback about the health and social care services where they live, enabling them to go into detail about their experiences. We ensure that the public voice is heard by those who commission, design and deliver health and social care services to make them better.
Andy Cave, Head of Operations and Public Involvement at Healthwatch Birmingham stated:
“As a champion for patient and public feedback, Healthwatch Birmingham is pleased to help promote NHS’s Friends and Family Test Spotlight Week. Our vision is to ensure people of Birmingham are at the heart of service change and improvement in health and social care in the city and we are actively encouraging people to share their experiences, and working with service providers to use this to help shape and improve local services.”
How can you have your say?
- Share your experiences with Healthwatch Birmingham via our Feedback Centre and make sure you complete the Friends and Family Test question. (you can share anonymously).
- Look out for Friends and Family Test cards in NHS hospitals, GP practices and dental practices.
- Visit NHS Choices to find local services and share your feedback.