Today GPs received comprehensive information to help them prepare for December, when they will begin asking patients a very important question – ‘How likely are you to recommend our GP Practice to friends and family if they needed similar care?’
The feedback in this Friends and Family Test (FFT), will be summarised publicly to help patients choose where they want to receive care and to enable the NHS to identify issues. Practices will also ask follow-up question of their choice to help improve services locally.
The NHS Employers organisation, NHS England and the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association jointly produced the guidance, which is available here: http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/primary-care-contacts/general-medical-services/friends-and-family-test
Gill Bellord, director of employment relations and reward at the NHS Employers organisation, said:
“The NHS is getting better at listening to its staff and patients, and this friends and family test is another step forward. Our early guidance will help GPs to prepare far ahead of the December deadline, helping them to tailor or expand their questions to fit patient care locally or to become early adopters.
“Getting this right will show the NHS and its patients where GP care is good and where it needs to be looked at – information that will be used to improve services and resolve problems early.”
Today NHS England separately published comprehensive guidance for use by hospital trusts and the providers of NHS funded services, helping them to implement FFT most effectively for both patients and staff.
The FFT will be a contractual requirement for all GP practices from 1 December 2014. This was part of the 2014/15 General Medical Services contract agreement made in November 2013 between the BMA’s GP Committee and NHS Employers (negotiating on behalf of NHS England).