Achieving Excellence in a Patient Centric NHS
By Jayex Limited, PRNEWednesday, July 6, 2011
LONDON, July 7, 2011 -
The General Medical Council (GMC) is
still consulting on its planned introduction of medical
revalidation in 2012. The new requirement is intended to assure
patients and the public, employers and other healthcare
professionals that licensed doctors are up-to-date and fit to
practice and will demand the collection of patient information.
But should GP practices or hospital departments just wait for
a GMC decision? By continually monitoring real-time patient
feedback, healthcare organisations can analyse performance on an
on-going basis, share best practice and transform
services to specifically meet the needs of the patient. Using
interactive touch screen technology healthcare organisations attain
insight that will greatly assist them in refining service levels as
revalidation looms.
As Bob Marsh, Director, Jayex
insists, it is time for healthcare organisations to take an
evidence-based approach to measuring and monitoring the whole
patient experience, identify areas that require improvement
and enable changes to be made in advance of revalidation
-
Fit to Practice
In the general confusion and state of flux surrounding NHS
change, many of the UK’s 100,000 doctors have overlooked the
General Medical Council’s (GMC) plans for medical revalidation.
Driven by a number of factors, including the Shipman Inquiry
and the government’s demand for greater patient input, revalidation
is the process by which doctors will have to demonstrate to the GMC
that they are up-to-date and fit to practice.
Expected to occur every five years, revalidation is a new way of
regulating the medical profession, providing a focus for doctors’
efforts to maintain and improve their practice, and encouraging
patients and the public to provide feedback about the medical care
received from doctors.
As yet, the GMC is still consulting on the best way to collect
and collate revalidation information. There is on-going discussion
about whether information will be collected centrally or at
practice/department level. However, it is clear that patient
information will be a key component of the overall evaluation of
doctors’ performance, and will comprise some of the supporting
information that all doctors will be expected to provide during
appraisal.
In addition to determining the right approach to collecting
patient feedback, the GMC has yet to ascertain the method of
collection. And getting this right will be critical to minimise the
administrative overhead. Indeed, whilst there are a number of ways
that patient feedback can be consumed and analysed to be
productive, many of these methods demand both time and resource - a
factor which will cause problems for already overstretched health
practitioners.
Patient Feedback
However, while medical revalidation is set to commence in summer
2012, there are clear opportunities for healthcare organisations
and doctors to proactively consider ways of gathering feedback from
patients today. One option is to extend the self-service touch
screen patient registration system to undertake patient surveys.
These systems are easy to use and provide patients with a quick way
to provide feedback, thus promoting high level response rates and
allowing all forms of feedback to be collected, rather than just
verbal complaints.
With this approach, control can be seamlessly imposed over the
information collection process. For example, it is easy to switch
the customer survey system on and off; surveys can be completed
anonymously if required to meet revalidation requirements; and it
is a simple process to ensure only those patients who have attended
a specific doctor or consultant are asked to complete a survey to
ensure information is accurate and relevant.
This process of collecting and collating information is
automated, minimising the administrative overhead and enabling
doctors to meet revalidation requirements as they are determined.
But, more importantly, it provides clear statistical information
directly back to doctors and practice managers on their
performance, the service the received by patients, and suggested
improvements to the surrounding environment.
Indeed, the patient information collected has value far beyond
meeting compliance requirements. Every modern business needs
to be able to react fast to customers and leverage opportunities to
achieve greater efficiency. In an increasingly patient-centric NHS,
there is a clear need to improve understanding of the customer
experience, from the difficulties of making appointments to
feedback on the cleanliness of the waiting environment or a demand
for specific local services. The ability to capture
information in real-time ensures problems can be rapidly flagged-up
and proactive changes made.
Conclusion
Doctors are incredibly busy people. And, for GPs, should the
planned move to GP commissioning continue, set to become even
busier. There is simply no way this revalidation compliance
requirement can be successfully met without automation; without
simple, touch screen solutions that improve patient engagement and
streamline the entire data collection process.
And whilst it remains unclear as to exactly how the GMC will
define the revalidation process and underpinning information
requirements, there is no doubt it will demand patient information
in some form. And, critically, there is growing realisation that
patient information will play a key role in determining the success
and structure of health service delivery.
In whatever way the structure of the NHS evolves over the next
decade, the challenge will be to juggle financial constraints and
growing patient power. It is those GP practices and hospital
departments that can create a seamless customer experience,
automatically gaining customer feedback throughout the process -
that will be best placed to respond to the challenges of the new
health economy.
For further information, please contact:
Bob Marsh
Director
Jayex Limited
+44(0)20-8838-6222
.
Tags: Jayex Limited, July 7, London, United Kingdom
