Picker responds to The King’s Fund, Healthwatch England and National Voices’ joint ‘Lost in the system: the need for better admin’ report

Responding to The King’s Fund, Healthwatch England and National Voices ‘joint ‘Lost in the system: the need for better admin’ report, Jenny King, chief research officer at Picker, said:

“These findings demonstrate the frustrations patients and service users experience around the administration of their care. These issues are so widespread that many will recognise parallels in their own experiences. What’s particularly concerning is the evidence that poor care administration can put people off from seeking care again in the future, and to see the impact on people with long term conditions, who need to have regular contact with the NHS.

“This research points to a question about the quality of the administration of care in the Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES), which Picker is commissioned to deliver by NHS England. We have shown that this question is the single strongest driver of people’s overall experiences of care. But the most recent data shows that, between 2021 and 2023, a smaller proportion of patients considered the administration of their care to be ‘very good’ or ‘good’ – a downward trend that must be reversed.

“Good quality administration can sound mundane but the evidence shows how important it is to the quality of care that people experience. Our Picker’s Principles of Person Centred Care highlight the importance of continuity of care across all stages of a person’s care journey: this includes ensuring that people have the right information at the right time, supported by effective administrative processes. Poor administration can undermine care continuity and leave people uncertain about their treatment.

“The upcoming ten-year plan provides an opportunity for greater clarity on planned improvements to administration, particularly given the opportunities available as part of the proposed shift from analogue to digital. Embracing new technologies could enhance the patient and staff experience of administration, but it is important that we have means of measuring their impact in place. Patients’ reports of their experiences, including through national surveys, should be a key source of this evidence.”