Published date: 23 November 2020
The Patient Estate
We tap into the 'voice of the patient' to explore how people want the GP surgery/healthcare facility of the future to look, how they want to use it as well as what services they want to receive in it.
At NHS Property Services we are committed to helping our colleagues across the NHS deliver excellent care to their patients.
To do this, we need to be closely linked to our customers, organisations and individuals in the wider NHS landscape. But the ‘voice of the patient’ is often missing from collective thinking, and we need to hear more from patients on what they want from their NHS estate. This is even more important against the backdrop of COVID-19, which has made a lasting impact on the way people view the delivery of their healthcare services, and are starting to expect more from their healthcare.
Over the summer we commissioned YouGov, a polling company, to speak to 2,000 patients in England, asking them what they want from their estate in the post-COVID world. The results were really interesting.
The results
The survey results included:
- 38% of respondents said they would like mental health services within their GP practice, with this increasing to 48% for those aged 18-34
- 40% of patients would not feel comfortable sharing a waiting room following the pandemic
- Over half (68%) would be comfortable attending GP appointments in a mobile clinic near their home
- Over one third would like access to a physiotherapist within their current healthcare facility
- 58% of patients said that friendliness and approachability of staff is of most importance when receiving healthcare services
- Just over a quarter (27%) of patients would like to know about their GP practice’s energy efficiency details
The future patient estate
We’ve worked with professional illustrator Alice Nyong to bring this survey, and the future Patient Estate, to life in the following sketches.
What next?
In the coming months we will use these statistics to show how people want the GP surgery/healthcare facility of the future to look, how they want to use it as well as what services they want to receive in it. This will inform future decisions on our buildings, creating healthier places that better serve patients and staff alike.
We will also demonstrate how this fits into the wider healthcare agenda, ensuring people’s wider health and wellbeing is looked after at all ages.
