Patient experience and involvement

At Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, we are committed to understanding and improving the experiences of all those who use our services.

We receive feedback from patients and families through: 

  • national surveys eg inpatient, outpatient and paediatric
  • friends and family test
  • patient and family open days
  • focus groups and divisional workshops
  • experience based co-design workshops working with patients, families and staff and
  • patient and family stories.

Ways to get involved

There are a number of ways for patients and the public to get involved in ouractivities: 

  • Become a member of our foundation trust. Visit our members' section of the website for more information.
  • Join the Patient & Engagement Group which meets quarterly to review and promote our work with, by and for patients. 
  • Participate via a patient panel. Patient panels are made up of small groups of patients and relatives who share their views and experiences of using our services to help us to improve services for patients and families.
  • You can share your individual experience through taking part in surveys, telling your story, meeting with PALS and joining public consultations.
  • You can become a patient or public representative and act as a voice for others on trust committees.
  • Our hospitals have an active arts programme designed to improve the well-being of patients, staff and the diverse communities we serve. Find out more about rb&hArts.

Give us feedback

We would love to hear from you about your experiences at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals. Please complete the short survey.

We participate in the NHS survey programme - the inpatient survey each year and the outpatient survey every two years. You can download the full reports of our results below.

Picker Institute Europe carries out both surveys on behalf of our Trust. They may contact you to complete a survey and we encourage you to do so because we value feedback from all our patients - it helps us to do our jobs better.

High levels of patient satisfaction

Over the 2018 and 2019 period, we received high levels of patient satisfaction through feedback surveys. Some results include: 

  • 96 percent recommendation rate (FFT)
  • 90 percent of our patients had "a good experience" (AIPS, 2018)
  • 91 percent of parents/carers felt their child's overall patient experience was good (CYPS 2018). 
2019 feedback survey results

Since 2002 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has carried out an Annual Inpatient Survey (AIPS) which has examined the whole patient journey from admission through to discharge; providing a comprehensive overview of patient experiences of care, both locally and nationally.

The AIPS 2019 was carried out in June/July 2019 and the survey was sent to a randomised sample of 1,250 patients over the age of 16 who had stayed at least one night in hospital. Results were collected up to December 2019 and analysed and reviewed in 2020. Survey data is used in CQC Insight which provides inspectors with an assessment of performance of areas of care within a Trust that need to be followed up and the data is also used to support inspections.

654 (53%) of our patients at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals responded and the results show that we performed “better than expected”. The Trust was named better than other trusts in eight of the 11 areas covered. Each area consists of a number of specific questions, on a variety of subjects such as waiting to get a bed, being informed about the next steps in treatment and being offered emotional support.

In summary:

  • 99 per cent of patients felt they were treated with respect and dignity always or most of the time
  • Over 98 per cent of patients had confidence and trust in their doctors
  • Over 98 per cent of patients had confidence in the nurses looking after them
  • Over 98 per cent of patients had confidence in other clinical staff such as physiotherapists, dietitians, speech and language therapists and psychology service staff
  • 96 per cent of patients felt they were involved in clinical decision making
  • 94 per cent of patients rated their care as 7/10 or more. 

Positive feedback included comments such as:

  • “Cardiology team were all helpful, professional and considerate”, “Brilliant hospital team”, “Doctors were excellent”
  • “Excellent nursing care”, “I felt well looked after and monitored at all times”, “Nurses were absolutely amazing”
  • “Rehab staff were excellent”, “Physiotherapist was brilliant I was taught new chest clearing techniques to very good effect”, “All staff [were] extremely caring and professional at all times. The welfare and wellbeing of patients was very apparent.”  

Although these are fantastic results for the Trust, and we performed better or the same as other hospitals, there is always space for learning different approaches for improvements. Throughout the year we aim to improve levels of patient satisfaction on noise at night, shared facilities, discharge and patient feedback. The 2020 Adult inpatient survey cohort will be sampled from inpatient stays during November and December which gives us time to implement some changes in the above areas of work.

Visit the CQC website to read the Trust’s report

  • You can see how our results compare with other trusts nationally by the looking at the  CQC's website.
  • You can also find out more about our services through  NHS Choices.

Contact us

If you need any further information, have any questions about feedback surveys or would like to share your experience with us, please contact Karen Taylor, patient and public engagement lead, at ppe@rbht.nhs.uk, or phone 0207 352 8121 ext 84740.