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To celebrate the positive changes to healthcare that are being produced through patient feedback, we want to find and recognise the services and people in the NHS who are making a real difference by organising the Friends and Family Test Awards 2016.

The Friends and Family Test is now operating across most of the NHS – in hospitals, community settings, on patient transport and in GP and dental services across England – and bringing in over a million pieces of near real-time feedback every month. Data shows that around 9 in 10 patients would recommend the service they used, which is an enormous vote of confidence in the NHS.

The opportunity to give free-text comments with their response to the FFT question has meant patients making suggestions or highlighting specific issues that staff can address, leading to many examples of service improvement.

These awards are to highlight some of the excellent work that is going on and to say thank you to the individuals and teams who have championed the FFT across NHS-funded services as an important way to increase transparency and involve patients in shaping their services.

Why participate? It is an opportunity to: give your team a pat on the back; perhaps get some well-deserved local publicity; share your great ideas with other services; and maybe even scoop an award or certificate to display to your patients. Above all, it is a chance to show that listening to patients can drive real changes in healthcare, delivering improved services.

There are five categories to take part in – including one for Staff FFT – so why not get involved? We’d love to hear about the amazing initiatives you have led or the great work of some of your colleagues.

Entries will be used as case studies on the NHS England website to show how the FFT is working and share details of service improvement with other providers. There will be awards for the top three nominees in each category, with winners to be announced at a national FFT and Insight Conference to be held in Leeds on 17 March 2016.

Categories

The categories are:

• Best FFT initiative in Primary Care – Covering GP and dental practices.
• Best FFT initiative in any other NHS-funded service – Covering hospital services, ambulance and patient transport services, community and mental health trusts etc.
• Best FFT accessibility initiative – Open to any service that has made a particular effort to make giving FFT feedback easier for people who might otherwise be excluded due to their age, language, literacy, physical or mental condition.
• Best Staff FFT initiative – Open to those organisations who participate in the Staff FFT.
• FFT Champion(s) of the Year – An individual or team who has made the most outstanding contribution to the successful implementation of the FFT in any NHS-funded service.

How to take part

To take part all you need to do is complete the entry form and return it to the address given.  The closing date is 8 January 2016.

Further information

If you have any questions, please email the FFT Helpdesk atengland.friendsandfamilytest@nhs.net.