Tell us with your token - RD&E uses simple new system to promote patient feedback in A and E

The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital has taken a tip from a top High Street food shop to make it easier for patients to give their views on the Accident and Emergency Department.

The A and E department is taking part in a national initiative called the Friends and Family Test, which asks patients the simple question of how likely they would be to recommend the service to theirfriends and family.

Patients coming to A and E are being handed a coloured token when they check in with reception.  Theyare then asked to post the token one of five slot boxes to indicate how likely they would be to recommend the service to their friends and family.  They can choose from the options of: ‘extremely likely’, ‘likely’, ‘neither likely nor unlikely’, ‘unlikely’ and ‘extremely unlikely".

Tracey Reeves, Associate Director of Nursing and Midwifery/Acting Deputy Chief Nurse, explained that the ‘Tell Us with Your Token’ initiative was aimed at making it easier for patients attending A and E to give their feedback on the care they received.

She said: "Patients attending A and E spend less time than they might on the wards, so it is sometimes more difficult to get their views before they go home or are admitted.  The department can be very busy, so our staff don’t always have enough time to actively encourage patients to fill in forms.

"We borrowed the idea of giving out tokens from one of the well-known High Street supermarkets, which uses a very similar idea to enable customers to choose a local charity to support.

"It is really important to get responses from as many people as possible. Patient feedback on their experience at the RD&E is absolutely vital to us both to ensure we are doing our very best for patients but also to make any improvements to our services."