One Thing Better

In England on Friday the Health Secretary stated;

too many hospitals are coasting along in mediocrity rather than striving for excellence

He went further;

it’s not good enough to just avoid being bottom of the league tables, &
there’s too often a culture of complancency which allows standards to slip

My experience of the ‘beloved’ (mainly because it mostly ‘free’) National Health Service certainly bears these statements out.

One beacon of bucking the trend wheeled across the airwaves was Walsall Manor boss, Richard Kirby.

They’d felt that they were in exactly this predicament some time ago. They were meeting their minimum targets, yet were frustrated that they were not ‘exceptional’.

So they decided to do something to raise their game.

They first held detailed interviews with 100 patients.

Findings were shared with all concerned. Actions agreed and taken.

To keep up the improvements, they then asked every patient after their care, what was one thing they could have done better.

It provided the masterstroke.

Yes, they got replies about temperature on wards and problems with televisions, but they uncovered invaluable, deper detail too. And then the key was, that they discussed it as a group and acted.

Yes, they’ve gone down the Net Promoter Score route (they call it “family & friends”) and other things as well, but the point is, they focus on;

the one thing we could have done better

What a wonderful way to go with your next round of account reviews, don’t you think?