By Richard Johnstone in Manchester | 1 October 2013
The ‘friends and family test’ used to judge the quality of NHS hospitals is to expanded to other public services, including job centres and further education colleges, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has said.
Maude said asking NHS patients ‘Would you recommend the service you’ve just used to your friends and family?’ had proven both simple and effective since it was introduced to accident and emergency and inpatient hospital wards in April.
Trusts are expected to use the results of the poll to improve services, and Maude told the Conservative Party conference it would be now be put in place across mental health services, community nursing, and outpatient appointments by the end of March 2015. The test will also be applied to assess Jobcentre Plus services and further education courses.
Maude said the test, the results of which are published online, formed part of the government’s ‘commitment to transparency’.
He added: ‘We know that transparency delivers better public services. It drives up standards, informs choice and holds providers to account. This extension of the friends and family test will put more power in the hands of the public, allowing them to give clear and honest feedback on the services that hard-working families use every day.
‘By putting an unprecedented amount of public data in the open – from where tax money is spent to how local hospitals are performing – we are starting to expose inadequacies, open up local choice and drive improvements.’
The expansion was welcomed by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said that, in its first four months, over half a million patients have had their say through the test.
‘The NHS is embracing the need for more patient feedback – these are the seeds of lasting culture change. Patients will be given unparalleled opportunities to hold health services to account and choose their care as the friends and family test is rolled out across the NHS.’
Maude also told delegates the government’s ‘radical efficiency and reform agenda’ had saved £5.5bn in 2011/12 and more than £10bn in 2012/13 through more efficient procurement and tackling fraud and error.
‘By the end of this Parliament we want to be saving around £20bn a year, with another £5bn the year after,’ he added.
Civil service reform was key to ensuring this target was met, he said, as currently the whole of Whitehall was operating as ‘less than the sum of the parts’.
‘That's the challenge for the leadership of the service, as we drive through the changes, to create a culture where amazing people driven by a public service ethos can do amazing things.’