Hertfordshire Adult Referral Hub Mystery Shop
Why did we do this?
The Adult Referral Hub manages referrals to a range of specialist adult community health care services in East and North Hertfordshire, on behalf of Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.
The Trust asked Healthwatch Hertfordshire to test what it was like calling the Hub, what sort of information was provided and how well people were signposted to the correct service if they rang with an issue.
Our volunteer mystery shoppers made 36 calls over two weeks, from 28 August to 12 September 2023. They used 20 different scenarios to test the service.
The Hub receives more than 700 calls a day and the aim of our mystery shop was to:
- Understand how quickly and professionally calls were answered.
- Assess the quality of responses to various scenarios covering a wide range of services.
- Recommend improvements to Hertfordshire Community Trust.
What did we find?
- Overall satisfaction with the service was positive with 56% of calls resulting in callers ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend the service. Only 19% of calls left volunteers ‘unlikely’ or ‘extremely unlikely’ to recommend the service.
- For some scenarios, choosing which option to press was straight-forward, but for others it was difficult to know which to choose.
- Callers were greeted by professional and polite administrators but were not always told the name of the service and sometimes the person who answered did not provide their name clearly.
- There were some very supportive responses and excellent signposting, however a few themes could be developed to improve the call experience and good practice could be shared among teams.
What can be Improved?
Initial Contact
It’s important that first contact is welcoming and supportive, as some callers may be nervous about calling the service either for themselves or for family or friends.
- Consider making the recorded introductory message more welcoming and personal.
- When services close early, or are suspended, ensure the answer-phone message states when the service is likely to re-open and provide a number to call for emergencies (if appropriate).
- Consider whether the options provided could be simplified. Most callers were not disadvantaged by choosing the wrong option, and generally received a quick and efficient service, but fewer choices would be preferable. Or a message saying to hold for an administrator, if their query is not covered by the options or they’re unsure which option to choose.
Call Response - greeting
- Ensure the name of the service is provided and that the name is consistent with what the caller is expecting.
- Remind administrators of the importance of speaking slowly and clearly on introduction and to always give their name.
Call Experience
- Review the information provided for different scenarios, so gaps and inconsistencies can be addressed and good practice shared.
- Remind administrators that tone of voice, clarity and manner are very important to the overall experience of the caller. Several volunteers commented on how a person sounded and how this impacted their experience.
Post Call
Friends and family recommendation scores were mostly positive, but with a number of ‘neither’ scores.
- Identify why ‘neither’ and ‘negative’ scores were given and use these to improve overall satisfaction with the service.
- Consider how the Adult Referral Hub might gather patient experience in the future.
What Happens Next
Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust said:
“We welcome the recommendations that have been made and these will help us to improve the experiences of people using the service, at what we recognise can often be stressful and worrying times.
It is also encouraging to read examples of excellent service provided by staff and the findings have also highlighted how we can better support staff to continue to provide a personable and efficient service.
With reference to the recommendations that have been made, we are in the process of simplifying the amount of initial options people hear and pre-recorded voice messages are also being changed so these are more welcoming and informative for people using the service.
The report findings have been shared with staff to remind them of the importance of clear and concise communication and learning from the report will also be used to inform future staff training sessions, including enhancing staff knowledge about HCT services and our complaints and feedback processes.”
