Annual conference breakout session: Information about clinics

About the session

In April, the Authority agreed recommendations that we should gather and display a balanced view of patient experience in fertility clinics.

We used the conference as an opportunity to gather some initial views from clinic staff as to how they feel we should gather, moderate and present any information on their performance.

The aim of the session was to:

explore the value of using patient feedback alongside clinic information on the HFEA website
get practical ideas on how the HFEA should collect and present patient feedback

The session included:

Presentation on:
- the importance of having the patient perspective,
- the value of doing this (i.e. driving improvement, providing a safe, moderated environment for patients to give honest views of clinics),
- why we should use the internet to provide this, examples of what is already available
A review of how others present patient experience / consumer feedback
Group discussion

Results of the session

Analysing existing sites that gather consumer feedback

NHS choices

What they liked:

Simple, clear format ‘a lot of information in a well presented and clear way’

Can see the difference between large and small clinic

Like the option to respond to feedback

‘sets standards’

Like the rating system

What they didn’t like:

Rated issues not specific enough to be helpful

Don’t like ‘mortality rates’ – very negative

Design of site – too busy

Fertility friends

What they liked:

Reassures patients that they are not alone

Good place for patients to share experiences

Creates a supportive network

What they didn’t like:

Not moderated

Not useful for objective measures of quality

Very personal, opinionated and subjective

Not structured - unclear

No overall ratings

‘HFEA should not try to reproduce this. Too opinionated…”

Patient opinion

What they liked:

Easy to read and rate

Distance from post code is helpful

Easy to compare

Very clear format

What they didn’t like:

That the star rating is only an option #

Individual experiences represented but may not be universal

Rate MD

What they liked

Easy to search

What they didn’t like

'Don’t like this one at all!’

Targets individuals who have no option to reply

Too personal

Not a clear or attractive format

‘Witch hunt’

Not enough information

How should we collect patient feedback?

Feedback should be collected through the HFEA website to give it credibility
We should try and capture the feedback during or just after the treatment
Clinics should send a letter out to patients after treatment to remind them to provide feedback
Reviewers should not have to login or provide identifying information as this may cause a reluctance to submit reviews

What feedback should we be collecting?

Important to have a core set of questions for continuity
Was it easy to find the clinic?
Was information easily accessible?
Were you treated with sensitivity & respect?
How was cleanliness of centre?
Did you feel welcome / comfortable?
Did you get information on success rates?
Were you provided with a costed treatment plan?
A scoring system would be better with the ability to write individual comments
Background information is important e.g. treatment type & was treatment successful?
Demographic data would be useful

How should we analyse and present feedback?

HFEA and clinics should analyse the feedback separately as they have different focus
Statistical data should be presented rather than individual reviews
Important to present how many reviews there have been
Patients should be able to compare clinic ratings
Should not give ratings unless a minimum number of reviews have been collected or 1 bad review could misrepresent

How should patient feedback be used to drive improvement?

Useful for clinics to view feedback before it gets published to allow improvements to be made
Clinics should use this information as part of quality management

Page last updated: 30 October 2009

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