A mixed-methods examination of patient feedback within forensic and non-forensic mental healthcare services

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground: The literature surrounding patient feedback is limited, despite government policy integrating patient feedback into how the care quality of the National Health Service (NHS) is assessed. The aim of the study is to examine the detailed contextualised accounts of patient feedback within forensic and non-forensic settings through qualitative and quantitative analyses.Method: Responses which reflected positive or negative/neutral overall feedback were analysed using Chi-Square tests on a total of 906 patient responses in a large NHS Trust in England. Conventional content analysis was conducted on 222 patient free-text comments, deriving codes and distributing these into categories.Findings: Forensic patients were more likely to give negative feedback on mental healthcare services than non-forensic patients. The service’s level of security-impacted patient’s willingness to engage with giving feedback. The qualitative analysis provided further insight into these differences by identifying themes in the data.Conclusion: The findings of the present study highlight the challenges faced by staff and volunteers when collecting patient feedback, exploring important differences between services. The study makes recommendations to practice-based interventions to reduce the consequence of these challenges and explores recommendations for future research.