Ji Soo Park, a medical student at King’s College London who recently completed a placement with the Health Innovation Network South London, reflects on work undertaken with the Long Term Conditions team, including contributions to the Healthy Hearts project and activity focused on understanding patient experience. This blog explores how structured patient feedback can inform service improvement and emphasises the importance of listening to patients when designing more responsive and effective care.
The South East London Healthy Hearts project was developed to accelerate optimisation of cardiovascular, renal and metabolic risk conditions, including hypertension, chronic kidney disease and Type 2 diabetes, in primary care across south east London. Built on lean approaches, point of care testing and supporting teams to deliver care for people with multiple long term conditions, the programme aims to use existing teams and resources to reduce fragmentation, minimise unnecessary contacts and support faster, more joined up care. The Health Innovation Network South London and Clinical Effectiveness South East London are providing improvement and innovation support to enable delivery, as part of the System Sustainability programme for South East London Integrated Care Board.
As the programme has developed, an important question has emerged. While there is a strong clinical and operational focus on improving pathways, it is also essential to understand how patients experience this care. What matters most to patients and where might care not meet expectations? The Voice of the Customer project was designed to address this.
How we gathered insight
The Voice of the Customer project was completed over six weeks using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. To maximise participation, a mixed method approach was used including quick response codes, text message links and in person data collection during clinic appointments at Springfield Medical Centre. A total of eighty patient responses were collected.
We applied importance performance analysis, a practical framework used to identify what patients value most and how well these aspects are currently delivered. This approach provided a clear view of strengths alongside areas where improvement could have the greatest impact.
What patients told us
The analysis revealed two clear priority areas. These were resolving health concerns as quickly as possible and ensuring patients understand when they will be seen next. These areas showed the largest gap between importance and performance and indicate where improvements would deliver the greatest benefit.
Patients also identified several strengths. These included being seen in their local practice, having enough time during appointments, knowing who to contact and understanding their health clearly. These findings are important as they provide a strong foundation on which to build further improvements.
Patients were also invited to provide additional comments through an open text box. Key themes included the importance of mental health support, empathy, continuity with a familiar clinician and a more holistic approach to care. These findings reinforce that good cardiovascular, renal and metabolic care cannot be defined by clinical outcomes alone.
What this means for how we design care
One of the most useful insights from this project is that our priorities are closely aligned with what matters to patients. From a service perspective, improving efficiency and making best use of staff capacity requires timely resolution of health concerns and clear communication. These priorities were also identified by patients.
The findings highlight the importance of reducing unnecessary delays and appointments so that each interaction contributes to progress. They also demonstrate that relatively simple approaches can generate meaningful insights in a short period. Gathering patient feedback does not need to be resource intensive to be effective.
What happens next
The findings are now embedded in the ongoing design and delivery of the Healthy Hearts project, helping to ensure that future improvements are informed by patient experience.
This work has established both a baseline and a replicable approach that can be applied across other projects seeking patient feedback. It shows that simple tools can provide timely insights into where change is most needed and demonstrates the value of actively listening to patients in driving healthcare improvement.
Find out more
For more information about the South East London Healthy Hearts project, please get in touch.