Hertswise Mystery Shop Exercise 2018
We mystery shopped the Hertswise dementia support service to assess the quality and effectiveness of the HertsHelp call handlers when answering calls from the public about dementia.
What is Hertswise
Hertswise is a county-wide service designed to support people living with dementia, low level memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment as well as their loved ones or carers. The services are three tier and delivered by a partnership of community and voluntary organisations led by Age UK Hertfordshire and including Hertfordshire Independent Living Service, Herts Mind Network, and Carers in Hertfordshire. HertsHelp is the organisation that provides the triaging service.
Where this project came from
Healthwatch Hertfordshire (HwH) was asked by Age UK Hertfordshire (AUKH) to mystery shop the HertsHelp triaging service for the Hertswise dementia support service. The project was requested due to questions raised by the Hertswise stakeholder group around gaining assurance about the effectiveness and quality of HertsHelp call handlers triaging correctly into the Hertswise services.
Focus of the Mystery Shop
The overall aims of this project was to:
- Evaluate the quality of call handler’s responses to complex and simple test scenarios
- Assess if the call handler signposts into the correct Hertswise service/organisation
- Identify good practice and potential areas of improvement for the service
Using simple and complex scenarios our 8 volunteers and 1 staff member made 27 calls to HertsHelp between the period of the 25th June to 27th July 2018. For each call a scoring sheet was completed and information gathered was compared against the agreed outcomes and information expected for these scenarios.
What We Found
- Calls were answered promptly and included the name of the service and operator.
- Volunteers reported a high level of satisfaction with the quality of the calls and the information given.
- Volunteers felt that call handlers showed care, concern and empathy towards the caller.
- Signposting for simple scenarios generally met the expected outcomes and often included a variety of other groups and options to consider.
- Responses to complex scenarios still offered a number of solutions but did not always meet the identified outcomes. (Young onset dementia seemed to be the hardest condition to identify).
- For complex scenarios signposting could be more tailored to the immediate needs of the caller.
- Timing and amount of personal information requested prior to providing information needs to follow the wishes of the caller.
It is pleasing to hear that the HertsHelp team have provided reassurance to callers and take ownership of the call, dealing with a variety of issues and providing information on a range of subjects that may be of interest, wider than the initial enquiry. This is a key element of the Herts Help service. With regards to dealing with complex issues and specifically young onset dementia enquiries, I would acknowledge that the team had not felt so confident in this area, as the calls are relatively low on this issue. However a training workshop was arranged and has subsequently been completed in October 2018.
Read the full report and recommendations here
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