Patient Experience and PALS

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) provides a free, confidential and impartial service for patients, carers, relatives and visitors.

At University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), we aim to provide the best possible care and experience for our patients. PALS can offer information, advice and support, help resolve concerns, and provide information about NHS services.

PALS can:

• Provide a confidential opportunity for patients, relatives and carers to raise concerns, comments or questions about the care or services they receive.
• Provide patient feedback forms.
• Arrange ward or home visits where appropriate.
• Explain how to view or request copies of health records.
• Signpost or refer patients to independent advocacy and specialist support services.
• Help resolve concerns wherever possible.
• Provide information about the Trust's complaints procedure and available support.
• Offer a welcoming environment to discuss concerns, suggestions and feedback.
• Treat information confidentially and only share it with others with your consent.
• Return telephone calls as soon as possible if staff are unavailable when you call.
• Collect comments from patient feedback boxes every week and acknowledge feedback within two working days where contact details are provided.
• Acknowledge emails as soon as possible.
• Seek your permission before progressing issues on your behalf.

Raising a concern on behalf of someone else

You may wish to raise concerns on behalf of a friend or relative. However, the Trust cannot share information from a patient's health record without appropriate consent.

Where required, PALS will seek consent from the patient or their authorised representative. This helps ensure compliance with data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and maintains patient confidentiality.

Read this leaflet about It's ok to ask for more information 

“It’s OK to ask” has been designed to encourage our patients to ask the questions that matter to them, be prepared before their consultation and have the confidence to say if they do not understand the information they are being given.

We all feel concerned when we don’t understand something, as things can become confusing and even frightening. We know that half of what a person is told is forgotten and half of what they remember is misunderstood. It is for this reason we want to encourage our patients to ask questions. Many people we care for need support to understand health information. This can be even more challenging when our patients have sensory difficulties or English is not their first language. Our aim is that our patients understand.

Why do we need to improve communication with our patients?

The message from our patients remains loud and clear that they want to receive more information and have more involvement in their care. This may be how to take their medication, being able to choose which treatment path to follow, making healthy food choices or finding their way around a busy hospital.

Research tells us that patients who feel involved in decisions about their care and who understand their condition have better outcomes.

We want to really make a difference by giving our patients the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to maintain their own well-being in the way that is best for them.

We have a responsibility to make sure that our explanations are not only heard but most importantly understood. If we get it right and encourage our patients to feel confident asking questions to help them understand: it will reduce the need for repeat appointments and hospital admissions.

We are committed to providing the best possible experience for patients and visitors.

We know that patients who have a better experience generally have better health outcomes. There is also evidence to suggest that patient experience is improved when patients have more control over their care and make informed decisions.

As a result of listening to feedback, we recognised that we could communicate better with our patients. You told us that we don't always get it right when it comes to involving you in your care and that we don't always provide you with the information you need.

The 'It's ok to ask' initiative has therefore been introduced to encourage you to ask the questions that matter, be prepared before you see a health professional and have the confidence to say if you do not understand the information being given.

This will help us to ensure that we:

• Provide timely, clear communication that our patients understand
• Provide an environment where patients are confident to ask questions
• Learn from patients themselves how much information they would like to receive and the way they would like to receive it.

Ask for a free bookmark when you next visit our Trust. It contains all of the information you need to get involved, suggesting three simple questions that you may want to ask when you next see a health professional:

• What is my main problem?
• What do I need to do?
• Why is it important I do this?

Tell us if we got it right for you by completing our Friends & Family Test

Any complaints about your stay in hospital or your treatment will be listened to. These help us to identify where we are getting it right and where things can be improved for future patients.

There are a number of ways you can do this.

You may wish to raise a concern about something that could have been done better or differently to help us improve.​

It is always best to speak to the staff who are treating you first of all.

If this does not resolve your concern please contact PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)​​, who will be able to support you and advise you of your options.

You may also wish to raise a formal complaint about an experience that you feel has been poor or things that you feel need to be improved or changed. 

Please be assured your care will not be affected if you raise a concern or make a complaint. Let us know your comments as soon as possible and where necessary. We will do our best to put things right for you

If you would like support in raising a complaint, independent advocacy services are available to you. The services below will be happy to advise you:

www.asist.co.uk (advocacy service)
www.totalvoicestaffs.org​ (advocacy service)

The NHS constitution sets out patients' rights to accessing healthcare: NHS constitution Handbook V2 (2015)​

As a Trust, we have a legal obligation to ensure our patients and visitors have equal and inclusive access to all our services. This includes those whose characteristics are protected by the Equality Act 2010​:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender re-assignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race including nationality and ethnic origin
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
  
  

We have a number of public involvement groups and forums. Please contact Rebecca Pilling, Head of Patient Experience and Public Involvement on 01782 675487 for more information or if you are interested in joining.

NHS England have also said that we need to make sure communication is equally accessible to all people and that we should have things in place to support our patients and visitors who have a communication support need.

We support individual communication needs on request. Examples of some of these are:

• A hearing loop is available for use within wards and departments
• Interpreter services are available
• Large print information is available
• Printed information is available in a range of different languages
• Audio information can be made available
• For people who are Next of Kin but may have hearing impairments which make being contacted by phone difficult, we can send you a text message asking you to contact the ward
• We can also assist with access to an independent mental capacity advocate if you feel you might need support
• We have a Hospital Passport​ for people with hearing impairments

To support with increasingly diverse communication needs, we now have the option to send a text to the identified next of kin or emergency contact to ask them to contact the ward. No personal or confidential information can or will be sent using a text… it is simply a text to ask someone to contact the ward. If you would prefer to receive a text rather than a phone call, please speak with the nurse in charge or contact PALS- the PALS office is just off the main corridor behind Main Reception​

Like most people, we like to know if we are doing a good job. By telling us, it encourages staff and helps to build confidence in the quality of our care. If you have received good treatment or service and would like to thank the staff involved, please let us know by contacting PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)​. They will ensure that your compliments are passed on to the service or individual concerned as quickly as possible.

Tell us, we are listening!

As an organisation, we regularly collect patient, visitor and staff feedback through a variety of different ways. 

Get involved, have your say!

Complete the Friends and Family test

All feedback is valued as a really important way for us to improve the experience of our patients and visitors. Positive feedback allows us to share good practice throughout the organisation and negative feedback helps us to learn and put improvements into place.    

Whether you are a patient or carer, family member or visitor, your comments are important to us. You can leave feedback about your experience of the services provided at our Trust in the following ways:​

• Through our PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) department: patientadvice.uhnm@nhs.net for Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital
• On our website via the Friends and Family Test​
• Through external websites:

NHS Choices                                         

Patient Opinion   

Healthwatch Staffordshire

Healthwatch Stoke on Trent​

We welcome the opportunity to hear about what it really feels like to be a patient at UHNM. If you would like to tell your story to a member of the patient experience team, please contact Rebecca.huntley@uhnm.nhs.uk, Head of Patient Experience on 01782 675487.

Are you due to use our services in the near future? Are you interested in becoming a 'Mystery Shopper' or completing a diary to describe your experience?

Contact Rebecca.huntley@uhnm.nhs.uk for more information.

We have access to information on a huge number of topics. We can also support with sign-posting you to support groups and networks. ​

For written information in alternative formats, please contact Rebecca Smith, Quality Improvement Facilitator, via PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)​

Here are a few links. However, if you need any further assistance, please contact the PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) team.

www.patients-association.org.uk

www.healthwatchstaffordshire.co.uk

www.pohwer.net (advocacy service)

www.asist.co.uk (advocacy service)

www.self-help.org.uk (Directory of organisations)

www.healthliteracy.org.uk

www.macmillan.org.uk

We want to hear about your complaint in your own words. We know some people find Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT helpful when completing forms but please be aware that AI-generated text can sometimes make complaints too complicated or include legal references that are not relevant. This may increase the time it takes us to review your complaint or we may need to ask you to resubmit it. We follow the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman – Good Complaint Handling standards. Information about using AI to raise a complaint, has been taken from their guidance.

When you bring a complaint to us, we need to understand your personal experience and how the issues have affected you. Simple, clear language that explains what happened to you will always be more helpful than complicated, formal writing.

We know some people find AI tools useful to support with their writing. It is important to remember the risks of sharing your information with AI tools. Providers of these tools may use it to train their AI systems and may process it in different countries. Avoid entering sensitive personal information unless you are confident about how it will be used and protected.

Here are some suggestions to get the best results from AI tools while making sure it still sounds like you and your complaint:

• Keep your prompts focused on your experience and how it made you feel. A prompt is a question or instruction that you type into an AI tool to tell it what you want help with. You can use these examples (from the PHSO website) of  

useful AI prompts to help with your complaint

• Do not ask AI to add legal arguments, use formal legal language or reference laws to try and make your complaint sound more ‘official’.
• It is important to check any AI-generated text to make sure it reflects your own personal experience and contains accurate facts.

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM, which covers Royal Stoke Hospital and Stafford County Hospital) is creating a ‘Patient and Public Engagement Council’ made up of patients, carers, families, and public representatives. This group will make sure that the views of patients and the public will help to shape how our hospital services are run and developed. UHNM covers Royal Stoke Hospital and Stafford County Hospital.  

We are looking for enthusiastic local volunteers to act as representatives for their local communities, attending the Council meetings every other month to provide the perspectives and feedback of their local community. The Council representatives will link in with their local communities to gain their perspectives ahead of meetings to ensure the views of the community, rather than just an individual, are considered. Please note that for communities who cannot attend the Council meetings, a member of the Council team will arrange a one-to-one meeting in a format that best suits the representative’s individual needs.  

As far as possible, the Council members will represent our local community, reflecting the diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs and additional needs. Therefore, we ask all applicants to state what local community or communities they would like to represent so that we can ensure the group is diverse and representative. 

Council members will also have an opportunity to be linked with specific clinical areas to act as a key patient voice for those services. They may be invited to attend relevant meetings or work with clinical leads to listen, share feedback from a patient perspective, and bring insights back to the Council.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Council, please complete the Expressions of Interest form. Please note that joining the Council is not guaranteed. You may be invited to have an informal conversation to make sure you are able to commit to supporting the Council. 

If you have any questions or need support completing this form, please email madeleine.roche@uhnm.nhs.uk or call or text 07881624337.