Popular feedback sessions for patients of a revolutionary hip and knee programme at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (ROH) are back - albeit in a slightly different form.
Since May 2019, as part of the award-winning ROH JointCare pathway for hip and knee replacement surgery, all patients on the pathway have been invited back to its successful Coffee Catch-Ups. These events were organised to give patients the chance to provide detailed feedback on their whole patient experience, giving staff a valuable insight into what they do well, and perhaps even more importantly, what they could do better. With over 500 attendees to date, these events have been hugely important to the Trust's continuous improvement programmes. It was therefore a great disappointment to the JointCare team when, like all group events, Coffee Catch-Ups had to be cancelled in spring last year.
With it looking very unlikely they would be able to resume in the months ahead, when elective surgery restarted, the team decided to move the events on to a virtual platform. This enabled patients to still give feedback, and let the team know how their recovery is going, at a time when patient experience is perhaps more important than ever, all from the comfort and safety of their own homes. The first virtual Coffee Catch-Up was held in November 2020. Any JointCare patients that had their surgery in July or August of that year were invited, and any patients unable to attend were encouraged to provide written feedback by email or letter.
JointCare won the Forward Healthcare Award for 'Acute or Specialist Services Redesign' in 2019 (above)
The event was a great success, with over 50 patients providing vital feedback on the services the Trust provides. The session was attended by 10 members of staff from a range of professions including representatives from the consultant team, executives, therapies, advanced practitioners, pharmacy and operations.
The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive, which provided a much needed morale boost to the staff taking part. Comments included:
- These were exceptional times, the nurses and staff were absolutely fantastic with me
- I felt very safe in the hospital even in the middle of the pandemic. The ROH reputation has already been earned and is still maintained
- I feel that the operation has been a great success due entirely to skill, professionalism and care I received at the ROH. Many thanks to all of you
- I am over the moon with my knee replacement and felt the entire team were amazing
- I welcome the opportunity to Thank the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital for giving me the chance to enjoy my life again.
The feedback is circulated to all relevant teams and departments to ensure all staff involved in the pathway are reminded of the great care they’re providing.
The invitations that are sent to attendees of the Coffee Catch-Up (above)
Valuable feedback was also given on improvements that could be made, and actions are already being taken to improve patient experience - the whole ethos of this continuous improvement programme.
Feedback following the event:
- Thank you for arranging today's Catch Up. Very interesting to hear of other patients' feedback and to learn of how so many other people (not just myself) shared the excellent care extended by all at ROH during their respective procedures
- Thank you all for letting me comment and again thank you all for my successful replacement hips!!!!!
- Thank you for organising and navigating your way through this meeting, especially with so many people
- Thank you for the invite to the coffee and catch-up – what a lovely idea
- Enjoyed the meeting this morning, and listened to five or six patients; all gave the hospital staff, consultants physios and the ROCS team a very good and appreciative view of the ROH, as I did myself. Carry on your good work.
Following the success of this event, the JointCare team are looking forward to the next virtual Coffee Catch-Up at the end of January.
