Development of an online patient information enquiry service for digitally literate patients

Quality Improvement Poster Download

Background & Problems

The 2016 Picker inpatient survey score showed that our provision of patient information had exceeded the “Picker average” of 19% and we needed to improve. Patients need to agree to consent, are encouraged to self manage their care and we need to ensure person centered care, to achieve this patients need the most appropriate information.

Aim

To improve the provision of good quality information to digitally literate patients. The ultimate goal is to decrease the Picker Score, however it is acknowledged that this project is just the start of larger patient information journey.

Method

We developed an online enquiry form and used a process map to ensure enquiries received would be dealt with appropriately. User testing helped us measure our processes including access, time taken and satisfaction. The service was launched in Autumn 2018. Posters and flyers have been produced and there is an ongoing publicity plan. As this is an innovative service we have nothing to benchmark the improvement against, however evaluations from users will be analysed to ascertain satisfaction and usage rates measured, staff workload is one of our balancing measures.

Results

The service is operational and several queries received. The service needs to become established and further evaluations received to ascertain the full benefits. There is considerable interest from other library services.

Implications

Lessons learnt:

• A visible web presence is essential, discover the constraints and opportunities of your website before implementing
• The service may take time to reach it’s full potential
• Librarians are well placed to deliver such a service
• Share and shout about it.

Opportunities:

• Work with 2gether Trust library service to include mental health and primary care patients
• Share with other NHS Library & Knowledge Services to develop services in other Trusts.