IBD PATIENT PANELS
IBD Patient Panel
Surveys
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
Why Carry Out a Survey?
 Bring about improvements in part of a service that you
think may not up to standard (Diet in hospital)
 Strengthen your case for improvements in part of a
service that you know is not up to standard (East Kent
Patient Access to Services Survey
 Get information from members of the IBD population that
is not represented on your Panel (younger people, ethnic
minority groups – eg Leicester)
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
Where to begin?
 Be sure of your aims (what do you want to get out of it?)
 Have a very clear focus - set parameters on the scope
 Work with your allies – not in isolation you – you will
need some professional ownership
 Find out what other people have done in the same field
 Set up a planning group – with some expertise on it
 Write down why you are doing the survey. This will be
included in the Survey Report
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
Methodology (what you are going to do and the way that
you are going to do it)
 This will be dictated by the resources that are available to you
 Compromises will always have to be made – ‘good enough’
principle
 Understand the difference between quantitative and
qualitative approaches. You will almost certainly be doing the
latter
 Keep your questionnaire short - there is a correlation
between compliance and length of questionnaire
 It is better to run two surveys rather than try to cover a range
of topics
 Pilot it on a friend
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
Some sample questions
•How long have you been diagnosed with IBD?
Would this question be better if it asked when did you last use NHS services in
connection with their illness rather than how long they have had it? ie How
relevant are their comments to the NHS service that is being provided today
•Are you currently unwell or in a period of remission?
What can you do with the answers to this question? This is an example of
gathering information that you probably don’t need
How do you score a response?
An even number of tick boxes or an odd number?
Use a scale of satisfaction including a smiley at either end -
 □ □ □ □
much clearer where to put your tick on your scale of satisfaction
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
Some sample questions –
Open ended
• Have you any comments to make regarding your treatment or the
services available to you?
This open ended question is possibly the most important question in the
whole of your survey. It gives the person completing the questions the
opportunity to answer in an undirected way and can bring rich pickings in
terms of qualitative data.
• Please state 2 things which were good about the service you have
received
• Please state two things which would have improved the service you have
received
Baycall provides urgent medical care for patients who cannot wait until routine surgeries for patients
across South Cumbria and North Lancashire.
We try to provide the best service we can, and welcome feedback about the service and suggestions
on how the service could be improved. This questionnaire is sent to a random sample of patients who
have contacted us and the results are anonymous and confidential. The results are used to provide us
with information about how patients feel about the service, and to give individual doctors and nurses
feedback about their own practice. The ID number below is only used to group doctors and nurses
calls together; we do not pass individual patient details to doctors as part of this audit.
Thank you in advance for taking the time and trouble to complete this, it is much appreciated. If you
want a response please write your name and other contact details on the reverse so that we can
follow this up.
We would also like to be able to contact those who express overall dissatisfaction with the service to
discuss this, and may, in certain circumstances, contact you to determine the exact nature of the
dissatisfaction so that we can better understand the problems you had and identify ways we might
improve the service.
About the patient
If you requested medical help for yourself, please give your own details here. If you were seeking
help for someone else - such as your child - please give details of that other person.
1.
What age is the patient?
_________ years
2.
Is the patient
Male
Female
About the service you received
When you telephoned the out-of-hours service, did you… (Please tick as many boxes as apply)
3.
Receive advice over the telephone?
4.
Have an appointment in a Primary Care Centre?
5.
Receive a visit in your home?
How satisfied are you with the following:
VERY
DISSATISFIED
6.
Getting through on the telephone?
7.
The way your initial phone call
was handled?
8.
The time you had to wait before
you spoke to a doctor or nurse?
9.
The telephone assessment that
you went through with the doctor
or nurse?
10.
The time you had to wait once
you arrived for your appointment
in a centre?
11.
The manner of the doctor you
saw?
12.
The treatment or advice you were
given?
13.
Overall, how satisfied were you
with the service you received?
DISSATISFIED
NEUTRAL
Thank you for your help. Now please return the questionnaire in the envelope provided.
ID No:______________
SATISFIED
VERY
SATISFIED
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
Methodology (cont…)
 How will you propose to distribute it?
 What is the target number of responses? Don’t get too few
…or too many! (100?) and typically you should expect only
one third response rate
 If it is being sent to Patients in hospital or using a hospital
database then you may need Ethics of Research Committee
approval for your methodology and your questionnaire
 How is the questionnaire going to be returned?
 Remember confidentiality is important. You have a
responsibility to ensure responses are anonymised
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
The Survey Report
 Who is going to collate the responses and produce the
report?
 Any cross tabulation? Hopefully not!
 Send the report out in draft first – you may have got
something wrong!
 Try and make the report look professional
 Include in the report an Action Plan - areas which you suggest
might be improved and how
 Remember the difference between influencing and
controlling - you can only offer suggestions for improvement
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
The Survey Report:1.Background
2.Methodology
3.Results
4.Conclusions
5.Action Plan
6.Appendices
a. Covering Letter
b. Survey Form
IBD Patient Panel Surveys
The Survey Report (cont…)
 Think who you are going to send the final report to….
 Offer to meet and discuss with key individuals or invite them
to your Panel Meeting
 Don’t be surprised if your report is challenged on the grounds
of validity, non representativeness, insufficient sample size
etc (if someone doesn’t like your findings this will be their
first line of attack!)
 Do reflect on your work and make it better next time –
Continuous Improvement!