The results of our first ever national Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREM) survey have been released this week.
The survey is co-ordinated by the UK Renal Registry and ourselves, and was completed by 11,027 people. Responses were received from 56 of the 57 adult NHS renal centres across England and Wales, compromising 231 units in total, and were analysed by the University of Hertfordshire. PREM's aim is to gain a patient focused assessment of how treatment and care is delivered and what aspects of it could be improved.
Encouragingly, most patients rate their overall experience of care highly and the areas that scored highest centred on access to the renal team and privacy and dignity. The data also revealed that age, sex, treatment type, or ethnicity has little bearing on patients perception on how they are treated at their unit.
The survey also found that the following areas are where most improvements were needed:-
- transport (to and from dialysis);
- needling (how often the renal team insert dialysis needles with as little pain as possible);
- and shared decision making.
The three areas that scored the lowest not only scored poorly but also had the most variation in experience, highlighting that more work needs to be done to improve these areas as well as establish acceptable standards across England and Wales.
11,027 people completed our 2017 PREM survey
Paddy Tabor, Chief Executive of Kidney Care UK, said: “It’s vital that staff at renal centres throughout England and Wales now use this data to make improvements. This isn’t about ticking boxes, this is about real improvements based on feedback from patients on the issues that matter most.”
Patients in Newcastle are already benefiting from changes made following the pilot of PREM in 2016. Areas for improvement identified by patients focused on communication, patient information and support. Changes that the unit implemented in partnership with patients included developing and progressing a system of ‘peer patient’ training with the local Kidney Patient Association and installing a TV in the waiting area for patients and their families.
Ron Cullen, Chief Executive of the Renal Registry, added: “This is the first national kidney patient experience survey of its kind in England and Wales and provides an invaluable opportunity for the kidney community to understand and take account of patient experience and use it as the starting point for quality improvement and change in how renal care is delivered.”
Download the full 2017 PREM Report
PREM 2018
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the survey. The 2018 PREM survey will be available online and from your unit from June.