How Lime Tree GP Surgery used patient reviews to improve staff morale, meet their regulatory requirements and massively improve their public image, all in the space of 6 months
Lime Tree Surgery is an NHS doctor surgery with three locations in and around Worthing. With the help of Working Feedback, they were able to unlock a more useful way of collecting patient feedback for clinical services and publishing them online. Over a 6 month period they:
- Received over 2,500 patient reviews
- Achieved a 98% patient satisfaction rating (4 or 5 stars)
- Increased the number of published Google Reviews by 175% and increased their average Google rating from 2.7 to 4.1
- Shared positive feedback with staff leading to a happier and more motivated team
- Used the service to complete their monthly FFT submission at the press of a button
“I’ve been using Working Feedback since the beginning of 2023 and have been very impressed with the results. I have to say I was quite nervous sending out the first 2,000 request messages – but the response rate from our patients was excellent and having a whole raft of positive reviews has enabled us to share with staff and patients alike the excellent service that we are providing for the majority of the time. In the case of complainants, the software made it easy to respond to any issues and allow us to determine future action points. It also provides a useful way of collecting patient feedback for our clinical services. Overall, I’m delighted with the product and have signed up for another 12 months!”
Tom Micklewright – Managing Partner, Lime Tree Surgery
The Story
Whether it’s through the NHS Website, Google Reviews or general social media platforms, reviews are incredibly important to any doctor surgery and help with staff retention and morale, reputation, regulatory compliance and, of course, securing and retaining patients. For Lime Tree, one of the main issues with the current feedback process was the small number of reviews being captured and the fact that the reviews didn’t reflect the true story.
With traditional manual or in-person approaches, leaving feedback can be difficult and time-consuming for patients and we all know that, if it’s difficult for someone to leave feedback, then they don’t unless they are highly motivated, generally making a (usually justified) complaint. The problem for Lime Tree was that the vast majority of patients experienced great service, but, as in most doctor surgeries, they had become a silent majority for the reasons outlined above, and so an automated review process was needed.
The Struggle
Working Feedback allows Lime Tree to text or email a customisable questionnaire to all patients who have had an appointment in the previous week – and then instantly publish positive responses directly onto their own website and onto the NHS Website. The process also highlights the small number of patients who are dissatisfied with their experience so the practice can proactively contact and address any issues directly.
All feedback is checked by the Working Feedback moderation team before publication (with negative reviews highlighted!) and a robust safeguarding process is in operation to ensure that ‘red flags’ are immediately shared with the practice.
The Strategy
Working Feedback allows Lime Tree to text or email a customisable questionnaire to all patients who have had an appointment in the previous week – and then instantly publish positive responses directly onto their own website and onto the NHS Website. The process also highlights the small number of patients who are dissatisfied with their experience so the practice can proactively contact and address any issues directly.
All feedback is checked by the Working Feedback moderation team before publication (with negative reviews highlighted!) and a robust safeguarding process is in operation to ensure that ‘red flags’ are immediately shared with the practice.
The Solution
In the first 6 months of working with Working Feedback, Lime Tree Surgery received over 2,500 reviews with an aggregate four or five star rating of 98%. This has been a really positive message to share with the team and combat some of the negative media information.
With a review certificate provided each month, Lime Tree have publicised their excellent service both in-practice and on social media – and have been able to capture real, meaningful data on patient satisfaction that they share via the monthly FFT submission.
Lime Tree Surgery saw these results with Working Feedback…
…and you can, too!
Demonstrated
the practice’s excellent service by publishing all feedback on the practice website
Improved
staff morale and retention by regularly sharing the positive messages with colleagues
Improved
patient experience by proactively contacting complainants to address any difficulties they had been facing