NHS Adult Inpatient Survey 2018 Contractor Briefing

Agenda Changes from 2017 survey - Changes to covering letters - Questionnaire changes - Pilot Study - Faster postal reminders National Data Guidance Key dates for 2018

Changes to the covering letters

Patients are sent up to three letters… Mailing 1: First Letter Mailing 2: (only to patients who haven’t responded) First Reminder Mailing 3: (only to patients who haven’t responded): Second Reminder

Changes in the 2018 Inpatient Survey letters include: Using colours to highlight key words in the letter Using a more informal font Removing superfluous and repetitive text on the front page Using a much more informal and encouraging tone overall Adding a text box around to the first letter which contains the key information for the patient.

Questionnaire Changes

Question removed from the questionnaire One question was removed from the 2017 questionnaire: This question presented a high correlation with the former Q57 (Did a member of staff explain the purpose of the medicines you were to take at home in a way you could understand?) and patient representatives also commented that if they felt staff explained the purpose of the medicine then they also felt staff explained how to take it.

Questions added to the questionnaire Question about integrated care Q66. Was the care and support you expected available when you needed it? 1  Yes 2  No 3  I did not expect any further care or support after I was discharged

Question about participating in research Q69. During this hospital stay, did anyone discuss with you whether you would like to take part in a research study? 1  Yes, and I agreed to take part 2  Yes, but I did not want to take part 3  No 4  Don’t know / can’t remember

Item modified The paragraph below has changed its positioning on the questionnaire. It still remains after Q73, in order to remind people the questions need to be answered in regards to the patient, but instead of being placed at the bottom of the column, it has now been placed at the top of the next column – directly above Q74. The content of the paragraph has not changed.

Summary of changes to the questionnaire: Question number/Item Question text Summary of changes Q59 (IP17 questionnaire) Were you told how to take your medication in a way you could understand? Removed Q66 Was the care and support you expected available when you needed it? New Question Q69 During this hospital stay, did anyone discuss with you whether you would like to take part in a research study? Reminder paragraph Reminder: All the questions should be answered from the point of view of the person named on the envelope. This includes the following background questions. Item modified

Pilot Study

Background As part of the drive to improve response rates (RR) and possibly response bias, and to explore a move to a mixed mode methodology using online methods within the NPSP, a pilot study will be used to test the effect of a number of interventions in the 2018 NHS Inpatient Survey (IP18). A pilot study will run alongside the main survey. This would involve up to 10 trusts, who are asked to provide an additional 1014 patients per trust and to provide mobile numbers for them. The sampling criteria will be the same as for the rest of the sample, with the only difference of having a mobile number. Trusts will be requested to continue including a consecutive discharges that have a valid mobile number until they reach the number of required pilot patients. Patients in the pilot sample will then be randomly allocated to each intervention by the Survey Coordination Centre.

Pilot Interventions Intervention 1: Online survey via postal letter Method of invitation Mailing 1 (M1) Mailing 2 (M2) Mailing 3 (M3) Intervention 1: Online survey via postal letter Postal letter with link to online questionnaire Postal reminder with link to online questionnaire Postal letter (no link) and hard copy of shorter questionnaire Intervention 2: Online survey via postal letter and SMS Postal letter with link to online questionnaire, followed by SMS with link Postal reminder with link to online questionnaire, followed by SMS with link Postal letter (no link) and hard copy of shorter questionnaire Intervention 3: Shorter paper questionnaire Same as main survey, with shorter questionnaire Same as main survey

Faster Postal Reminders

Pilot findings from IP17 Running alongside the main survey a pilot was conducted to test the impact of various interventions on response rate. One intervention resulted in a significant increase in response when compared to the control group: Intervention B: faster reminder (5 days) after initial mailing Overall 40.8% of those who received the standard survey materials responded to the survey. The early postal reminder gave rise to a response rate of 44%.

Faster Postal Reminders for IP18 For IP18, the time between the initial contact and first reminder will be reduced. The time period between first mailing and first reminder will be five working days.

National Data Opt-out Programme

NPSP Temporary Exemption

Key Dates for IP18 Scored questionnaire published 10th August Sample construction spreadsheet 23rd July Submission of hardcopies 3rd August Weekly monitoring spreadsheet 6th August Data entry documents 2nd November Deadline for trusts to inform us which contractor they are using 19th July Trusts draw sample 1st August to 31st August Sample Checking 6th August to 5th October Fieldwork 28th August to 4th January 2019 Weekly monitoring Every Thursday during fieldwork, starts 30th August Deadline for final data 11th January 2019

Questions?

Thank you for your time Copy of the slides: http://www.nhssurveys.org/surveys/1238 Contact us: inpatient@surveycoordination.com / 01865 208127