Recognition in national awards for local NHS

Mon 14th March 2016

NHS North Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been selected as a finalist in a national awards scheme about the way patient and staff feedback is used to improve healthcare services.

The Friends and Family Test is a way for patients to rate their latest experience of NHS care or treatment. They can provide comments to explain their score and this feedback helps services to focus on areas that need improvement.

The Friends and Family Test Awards 2016 were set up to recognise NHS providers who go the extra mile in their work to listen to patients and staff. There are five categories and North Tyneside CCG has made the shortlist for the Best FFT Initiative category.

The CCG was nominated for its success with an innovative mobile app that allows patients to submit their friends and family test results directly from the practice. The app was developed by NHS North Tyneside CCG, and was initially made available for practices locally. Following its local success, the app has been adopted by NHS England who have expressed an interest to release the code nationally, for use by all NHS organisations.

Dr John Matthews, Clinical Chair of NHS North Tyneside CCG said: “The CCG is immensely proud to be selected as a finalist for the national FFT awards. We have an amazing in-house transformation team that is always looking for innovative ways of working for the benefit of patients and staff working in the NHS. This national recognition is confirmation of the great work that they have done to capture patient feedback and improve services.”

Almost 200 entries were received by NHS England. Anu Singh, Director of, said: “We have rolled out the Friends and Family Test across most NHS services and we wanted to take stock of how it’s working and what benefits it is actually bringing for patients.

“Through entries to the awards, we have found a rich seam of information about a whole range of improvements, great and small, that make a real difference to how patients feel about their contact with the NHS. It is really rewarding to see the high level of appreciation that patients show for staff and to see how well many healthcare providers are listening to their patients and trying to continuously improve services. NHS trusts also conduct a similar feedback scheme for their staff and that too is making a real difference.”

The winners will be announced by NHS England on 17 March.

To learn more about the Friends and Family Test, go to www.nhs.uk/friendsandfamily.