It is critical that a representative range of patients/clients respond to your survey, bringing you a robust set of data and meaningful insights.
Through industry best practices and analysing programmes with the highest response rates, we have determined the crucial activities that contribute to high and robust response rates.
Patient Participation Best Practice Summary
Encourage participation in the care setting.
Encourage patients to participate in the survey before they receive their invitation. When patients expect a survey and understand its purpose, they are more likely to trust the invitation and respond. Therefore, plan communication content in your care setting, such as posters and brochures that provide information to patients about the programme.
Additionally, ensure that your front line and administrative staff understand the survey programme, providing them with survey FAQs, and encouraging them to tell patients about the upcoming survey on discharge.
"They [service users] really, really need to know it’s coming because I don’t know about you but we’re very, very careful what we open and if this just appeared with no warning I wouldn’t open it." - Respondent
Check out our resources and templates that can support you in this! Here, you can find patient posters and brochures for your care setting, along with staff awareness posters. It is important that both your patients and staff understand the programme and its purpose.
Communicate the benefits of participation
In these communications, you must define the benefits of participation, answering patients' common question of 'what's in it for me?'. You will need to explain the purpose of the survey and reassure them that their voice will be listened to and used to improve services and patient care.
"You’ve got to feel that you’re going to benefit, and it’s really relevant to you, for you to have the interest to do it." - respondent
Demonstrate that you listen and act on patient feedback
This is the most effective way of illustrating how important patient feedback is to your organisation. You can do this in many ways, such as by placing posters or reports in the care setting that show the feedback you received and what you did about it i.e "You said... We did..." reports. Additionally, you can include a page on your website about your survey programme, the feedback you've received and what you did to action it. This sends a powerful message that you listen and act on the respondents' voice.
Download our 'You Said.. We Did' templates to share in your care setting.
Optimise the opt-in or opt-out process
Keep the opt-in or opt-out processes as simple as possible, reducing any barriers to participation whilst meeting regulations. If you are unclear about your country's regulations, please contact your data protection officer for guidance. We will also be here to support you in implementing this.
Consistently gather contact details.
If sending invites via email and SMS, ensure your email address collection is as high as possible; email typically sees higher response rates. Ensure that administration staff understand the rationale for collecting contact details, so if required, they can communicate this to patients. Additionally, review your contact detail collection processes to ensure no patient cohorts are missed. If this is the case, create a strategy for targeting these groups.
Regularly review results to target under-represented patient cohorts.
Regularly review your response results via various demographics and compare this to your patient population. If you see under-represented patient cohorts, create a strategy to target these groups. This may include adjusting your communication strategy, including new surveying modes and/or adding other languages for the various populations you serve. You can conduct interviews and further research to understand these barriers to participation so that you can address these barriers within your strategy.
Client Story Examples
Impact Model
These recommendations come from our Impact Model: Our best practice framework ensures your programme drives continuous improvement, creating better outcomes for both patients and your organisation. Download our Impact Model Guide for our complete best practice recommendations across the four pillars of Executive Leadership, Staff Engagement, Robust Design and Patient Participation. Learn more here.