This activity formed part of a larger Quality Improvement project carried out in 2023, ‘ The expansion of The Acute Care at Home Team’. That project aimed to increase referrals to the team and the capacity to accept them.
In order to shape the expansion of our service we wished to hear the views, opinions and feedback of our service users and carers. Crucially we wanted to hear what patients and carers valued from the service and any changes they would like to see as we grow.
To achieve the objectives of our project the team members involved needed to identify and contact patients and their carers to take part in the focus groups. We wanted to ensure we were as inclusive as possible and included a range of patients/ carers across geographical areas, age and gender. We also wanted to ensure that face to face attendance or lack of technology was not a barrier to taking part. We needed to be clear about the purpose of the gathering the feedback and how we planned to use it to shape the expansion of our service. We also wanted the experience to be a positive one for our attendees.
Focus groups were used to gather the qualitative data. Past patients and carers were invited to take part, consisting of 8-10 people, a mixture of patients and carers, in total 3 focus groups were facilitated. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data.
In order to be as inclusive as possible three focus groups were completed across the trust. Both in person and remote options were offered. All sites were wheelchair accessible. Where our participants had concerns about technology we asked a Health Care Assistant to call to them and set up an iPad/link in for them. Where someone didn’t want to participate but wished to give feedback we gathered that over the phone.
In each session the participants had the opportunity to introduce themselves, we had specific questions but felt that all groups naturally evolved into a very informal conversation between the patients, carers and ourselves.
Overall the feedback was positive but we did prompt the participants to suggest any changes that they could recommend. The experience was moving and emotional in all groups.
Five themes were identified from the data:
- Admission avoidance
- Patient centered care
- Family experience
- Team expertise
- Impact on quality of life
Through analysis of the data there were recurrent areas identified for improvement, such as the discharge process.
As a result of the findings, the team have used the feedback to improve the discharge process as this was highlighted as an area of improvement during the focus groups. Positive feedback was shared within the team which has greatly impacted morale positively. We will continue to gather feedback from patients in order to inform how our service is shaped.
All staff involved found the process daunting at first but found it very rewarding.
Click here to check out the feedback flyer for the project
