Beyond collection: A moral imperative to meaningfully utilise patient feedback data in healthcare settings

NHS organisations recognise the importance of putting service users at the centre of everything they do, but this principle needs to be clear in the values and behaviours of services. A key action related to this is the capacity and capability of services to effectively collect feedback on service users’ experience of care, in addition to outcomes of care. Unfortunately, our clinical experience suggests that there is a lack of consistency and consensus across services on how to best gather, analyse and, therefore, meaningfully use this data that is provided in good faith by service users. This article describes some of the challenges we have noticed when dealing with service user feedback data and offers guidance and suggestions on how services can manage such data effectively and efficiently.