The Friends and Family Test is an NHS national initiative to obtain quick and easy feedback about services across the health service.
We ask one simple question
“Overall, how was your experience of our service?”
You can rank your answer from ‘very good‘ to ‘very poor‘. You’ll have the opportunity to explain your score by adding some text, and you may also be asked some follow-up questions.
We read all your feedback and use it to improve our services and report on patients experience of care at Kingston Hospital.
Your responses are free and anonymous. You will not be identified from your feedback.
The results are regularly shared with staff. Positive feedback helps staff to know what makes a difference to patient care. When the feedback is less positive, staff are encouraged to find ways to improve their services and check if this makes a real difference by looking at FFT feedback regularly.
If you’ve recently had an outpatients appointments, attended a day appointment or visited our Emergency (A&E) Department, you may have received a text on your mobile from NHSKingston.
Patients under 70 are sent a link to a short survey by text that then opens on a smart phone web browser. Patients over 70 receive a text containing a question, asking them about their experience to which they can respond (free of charge).
If you are sent a text …
Responding to the text is free. Please disregard any alerts (sent by some mobile networks) that you may be charged. These are automated generic warnings generated by some mobile networks for all ‘short code’ numbers.
If you want to stop receiving texts asking for feedback – reply ‘STOP’
If your mobile network doesn’t allow you to respond to the text, you can phone the Patient Experience and Involvement team on 0208 934 2504 and we will pass your feedback on to the relevant department.
Every inpatient ward has an FFT ipad. A member of staff will offer you the chance to give feedback before you leave hospital, but you can ask for the FFT ipad at any time during your stay. Family members can also leave feedback whilst they are visiting.
Our iPads offer Easy Read options, but if you require the survey in another format, such as a language other than English, British Sign Language or Easy Read, please leave a message for the Patient Experience and Involvement Team on 0208 934 2504.
Kingston Hospital Foundation NHS Trust has asked CIVICA to contact patients on behalf of the Trust with text messages and phone calls for feedback. All contact details are encrypted before they are securely transferred and held in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998). The details sent are:
What to do if you do not wish to take part
If you do not want to be contacted for feedback by text message or phone, please tell us in one of the following ways and we will opt you out of the service.
