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Patient experience definition

The definition was developed after extensive research involving patients, the public and NHS staff and appeared in Building on the best: Choice, responsiveness and equity in the NHS (Chapter 2, section 9).

We want an NHS that meets not only our physical needs but our emotional ones too. This means:

• getting good treatment in a comfortable, caring and safe environment, delivered in a calm and reassuring way
• having information to make choices, to feel confident and to feel in control
• being talked to and listened to as an equal; being treated with honesty, respect and dignity.

Analysis of survey data reveals that the emotional experience is a key driver for overall patient satisfaction. We now plan to use the Definition to improve the patient experience. Via detailed case studies of healthcare settings, we plan to identify those behaviours that lead to high levels of patient satisfaction, and disseminate these more widely across the NHS.

• Results from a programme of consultation to develop a patient experience statement