The Patient Experience Library makes it easy for people to get a patient's-eye view of service quality.
Did you know that the library holds the whole of the UK's collective intelligence on patient experience and patient/public involvement, with over 40,000 documents from local Healthwatch, national charities and think tanks, and government bodies such as CQC, NHS England and NHS Improvement? Nope - neither did I.
That's a lot of documentation, and some subscribers love to burrow into it, digging out nuggets of useful insight and evidence. Other users prefer to use the library's interactive Knowledge Maps to look at patient experience in their own area. Or to commission Insight Reports for a summary of the best available evidence on a particular topic.
Carol Rowley, from the East Surrey CCG, commissioned an Insight Report on patient experience of perinatal mental health. She found that "The summary of key findings and possible solutions were very insightful. The pace at which this was turned around was also very impressive. I have circulated the report to key personnel within the CCG and with the local maternity services committee".
Miles Sibley, from the Patient Experience Library, explains, "We built the library because we wanted to bring patient experience into the light. Lots of patient voice organisations are doing a great job but their reports are scattered across hundreds of different websites. Until we built the library, it was extremely difficult to get an overview of the UK's combined knowledge of patient experience.
According to Sibley, this matters because:
- A patient-centred NHS has to understand patient experience. Access to the patient experience literature is key to good understanding.
- Clinicians have access to comprehensive professional databases to guide their practice and professional development. Patients experience leads need the same.
- Patient voice has been championed for over forty years by Community Health Councils, Patient and Public Involvement Forums, Local Involvement Networks, and Healthwatch. They all produced valuable intelligence, but not one of them created an archive. The Patient Experience Library is now preserving the literature, ensuring that vital knowledge does not get lost.
The Patient Experience Library is featured in NHS England's statutory guidance for Clinical Commissioning Groups, and on the NHS Improvement website.
You can browse all the archive reports for free alongside free knowledge maps and weekly newsletters
You require a subscription to undertake bespoke reviews and reports and this is £5000 a year
This resource is well worth a browse and the archive reports and knowledge maps make interesting reading.