The Excellence in Care (EiC) programme is testing its new relational Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) survey tool.
Summary
The tool helps boards understand people’s experiences of care in a simple and consistent way. The relational PREM is a specific type of questionnaire used in healthcare. It focuses on empathy, communication and emotional support experienced during care. These elements are at the core of the Excellence in Care Framework and are central to the delivery of high-quality care. The EiC relational PREM survey tool has six questions and is based on what matters most to people when they use health services.
What we are doing
To understand what works best across different settings, we are testing both paper-based/in‑person and digitally enabled approaches.
Paper-based and in‑person
- Comment cards completed independently at the point of care
- Person‑facilitated surveys supported by staff or volunteers, completed via paper, tablet or other in‑person devices
Digitally enabled
- Care opinion
- Patient hub
- Digital survey links provided through QR codes, SMS or email
This helps us see:
- how easy the PREM survey tool is to use
- if the systems work well
- how the results can be shown clearly
- how well each way of collecting answers helps us understand people’s experiences
Where testing is happening
Testing is taking place in a number of NHS Scotland boards in collaboration with Patient Experience Teams. We aim to test in a range of inpatient, outpatient and community settings.
Services that need Easy Read or symbol‑supported versions are not included yet, as we are still developing these formats.
How we are gathering feedback
We are asking both patients and staff to tell us what worked well and what could be improved.
- Staff complete a short survey and some take part in interviews.
- Patients can give optional feedback after completing the PREM survey tool.
Further information
For more information, contact phs.excellenceincare@phs.scot.