The importance of listening to the patient experience

We know that it's through lived experience that we can gain a true insight into the patient journey and what improvements will ultimately improve the patient experience. At the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (ROH) in Birmingham, this concept was applied to our hip and knee replacement services, involving patients in service evaluation through patient follow-ups.  

It's a great example of experience-based co-design in practice. The approach puts patients at the centre and uses their experience and knowledge to make change happen. Experience-based co-design is used throughout the NHS as it's recognised as a great way to improve services with impact. The collaborative approach to improving healthcare services puts patients and healthcare staff at the heart of initiatives and potential changes. However, not all programmes are created equally and there are many factors that can make or break an experience-based co-design project, from engaging the right people at the right time, ease of contribution to shared responsibility for delivery of changes.

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital leverages this approach in its patient Coffee Catch Ups. Initiated in May 2019, Coffee Catch Ups are a part of the JointCare pathway — the ROH's innovative hip and knee replacement programme. The JointCare programme is built on a 'wellness model' which means that NHS patients are treated in an environment which encourages them to move and improve, focusing on what they can do rather than what they can't.