In this section...

  1. How we make decisions
  2. Our priorities
  3. Policies and procedures
  4. What we spend and how we spend it
  5. Who we are and what we do
  6. Work for us

Patient experience

Contact us

  • Write to: Patient Experience Team, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Room 11, Banham House, Bodmin Hospital, Bodmin, PL31 2QT.
  • Call 01208 834 352
  • Email the Patient Experience Team

Experience is personal and how a patient, their family or carer feels about their experience of a service is vital. Improving patient experience is a key aim for the Trust.

By listening to your feedback we are able to replicate the services you like, help resolve issues you are having, and make improvements in the areas that patients say matter most.

Tell us your story or pass on a compliment

Patient stories are an invaluable way of helping us to understand what really matters to you and ensuring that improvement of services is centred on the needs of the patient. It is also helpful to hear about what you think we are doing well so that we can share your positive experiences.

If you would like to share your story with us, email Anna Passmore.

Would you recommend us to friends and family?

The Friends and Family Test is a simple question that patients will be asked about the care and treatment they received in inpatient wards, minor injury unit departments and throughout our community services.

Put simply, we want to know if the standard of care you received was the same standard of care you would want your friends and family to receive if they needed to if they had the same or a different condition, even if they live in a different area. You will be invited to answer a very simple question, asking you if you’d recommend your care to your friends or family using a scale.

Get involved

Would you like to be involved in any of the following:

  • consultation around changes to the services
  • surveys and how we conduct them
  • would you like:
    • to meet to review your experience as a patient or carer
    • to volunteer
    • be interested in being part of an interview panel
    • be a governor
    • get involved with the strategic direction of the Trust.

There are lots of opportunities throughout the year to come and meet our staff, to find out what’s happening in the Trust.

Carers Voices Partnership

About the Carers Voices Partnership

  • An independent forum for carers to be involved in the development and creation of Cornwall NHS services.
  • Will thread the carers voice throughout everything the Trust does and will allow us to listen to the challenges carers face.
  • Provide a forum that carers can connect with other carers, access information and support.
  • Be an essential part of safe, inclusive, and personal service for those accessing NHS services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
  • We will listen and gather feedback from communities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
  • Support service user and carer user involvement in projects within our services.
  • An opportunity for us to co-produce services with service users and their carers.

Friends and Family Test

The NHS Friends and Family Test was created to help service providers and commissioners understand whether their patients are happy with the service provided.

Have you received treatment at home or in a hospital? If so, we want to hear from you. Take the Friends and Family Test.

The survey can also be completed as a downloadable form. Complete and return to the address on the form.

Download the Friends and Family Test form (PDF, 616 KB)

What is it?

The Friends and Family Test is a simple question that patients will be asked about the care and treatment they received in inpatient wards, minor injury unit departments and our community services.

Put simply, we want to know if the standard of care you received was the same standard of care you would want your friends and family to receive if they needed to if they had the same or a different condition, even if they live in a different area. You will be invited to answer a very simple question, asking you if you’d recommend your care to your friends or family using a scale.

How can you take the test?

You are able to complete the survey in a number of ways.

The test will be provided at our hospitals and by teams visiting you at home in a paper format. This can be returned by:

  • posting it in one of the Friends and Family Test post boxes in the hospitals
  • giving it to a member of staff (make sure it is sealed to ensure it remains confidential)
  • popping it in the post box (no stamp is required)

The test can also be completed online in the link at the top of this page. Or alternatively, look out in our hospitals for our new feedback points were you can complete the test electronically.

What happens with the results?

Your comments are used to make improvements to services. In fact, every one of our hospital will have a poster showing some of the comments made and what we’ve done to improve. This is why the friends and family test is so important. If you think there’s something we could do better to improve your care or the care of others you can tell us. It’s also completely anonymous.

The responses will be published without mentioning names so that patients can see how other services compare.

Resources

NHS accessible information standard

People have the right to accessible information and support with communication. Health and social care services must provide this support. This means these organisations must follow the Accessible Information Standard for the NHS.

Aim of the standard

The aim of the accessible information standard is to help people with a disability, an impairment, or a sensory loss. It supports patients, carers, and parents. The standard aims to ensure people’s communication needs are known and met.

The standard says that organisations that give NHS care or adult social care must do the following.

  1. Ask people if they have any communication needs or need to receive information in a certain way.
  2. Make sure everyone’s needs are recorded in the same way and that they are easy to understand.
  3. Make it easy to see when a person has information or communication needs and how those needs can be met.
  4. Share the information with other providers of NHS care and adult social care. This should only happen if they are allowed to see it.
  5. Make sure that people get information in a way they can access and understand. They should also get support with communication if they need it.

Making information accessible

Services should ask people if they need help with communication. For example, people could say they need:

  • to be contacted in a certain way, such as by email, and not by phone
  • to receive information in a different format, like large print
  • communication support, such as a British Sign Language interpreter
  • other support, for instance, hearing aids or lip reading

The Trust aims that people can:

  • get information in a way they can access and understand
  • get support with communication
  • receive easy to understand information
  • have information available in different formats

Around 1 in 5 people in the UK has a disability. Making information accessible is not just good practice; it is the law. Trust services must be accessible to everyone who needs them. This should help to improve people’s health and wellbeing. It should also help to reduce health inequalities.

Cornwall accessible communications group

The Cornwall accessible communications group is a multi-agency group. The group was set up to improve all forms of communication.

The group will:

  • oversee the implementation of the accessible information standard
  • develop consistent standards around accessible information
  • draw on the expertise of voluntary and community sector organisations
  • share examples and good practice
  • act as a critical friend to review resources and ideas

All partners of the Cornwall accessible communications group are committed to:

  • improving communication
  • using plain English
  • enabling access to information in different formats

Accessible communications symbol

The Cornwall accessible communications group developed an accessible communications symbol. The symbol is a picture, which shows examples of formats available. This includes audio files, Braille, and foreign languages.

We hope more organisations will use the symbol. This will make it easy to recognise for anyone with a communication need.

The symbol is available in different picture formats. Email NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board's engagement team.

Accessibility Regulations 2018

The accessibility requirements aim to make online public services accessible to everyone. The regulations aim to improve digital accessibility. We have worked to make our site as accessible as possible for all visitors.

Read more about our accessibility statement and accessibility options.

Personalised care planning

Care is planned with you, about you and for you.

What is it?

Personalised care means people have choice and control over the way their care is planned and delivered. It is based on what matters to them and their individual strengths and needs. 

What we do

We will work with you to make a care plan that is right for you.

We will talk with you about your health.

We will do our best to give you choices about your treatment and support.

Your family or friends can help to talk about your treatment and support if you say this is okay.

Family and friends can speak to us if they are worried about you.

We will not give out confidential information except if we know you or someone else may get hurt.

How it works

Together we will plan your care.

We will make a care plan which will include what:

  • matters to you
  • is going to be done by who and when
  • should happen if your needs change or there is a crisis.
  • you can do to help yourself

If you say it is okay your care plan will be shared with other health professionals. This means everyone works together to give you the help you need.

More information

If you have any questions about your care you can talk to someone from the health team, the team manager or the patient advice and liaison service (PALS).

Patient advice and liaison service, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Room 11,Banham House, Bodmin Community Hospital, Bodmin PL31 2QT

Call 01208 834620 or email the PALS team.

Magic card

Magic stands for making all good decisions in collaboration. The magic card is a simple tool to facilitate shared decision-making and support planning personalised care. It supports people who use our services to become activated co-leaders of their care.

People who use our services or clinicians can write information or further questions in the blank space. 

Moving forward we aim to create a version that can be filled in on a smartphone or tablet and an audible version. An easy read version is in progress. We will share them here once created.   

Download the magic card (PDF, 30KB)

Resources

Documents

Personalised care planning videos

Gathering information around personalisation and support plans

NHS Right Care long term condition scenarios