The Survey

Every year the UK NHS National Aspergillosis Centre surveys its patients, asking questions about patient satisfaction with our service. The survey is carried out online and a link to the survey is texted to every patient who attends one of our clinics for a period of 4-8 weeks. NOTE that the full NAC Annual Report can be found here.

NAC clinics remain only partially face-to-face, with most patients seen remotely we have again offered this survey in a couple of ways in order that every patient was allowed to complete it.

We used Accurx internet services to send all patients a text message offering a link to the survey and phone number so that they could complete the survey with our assistance over the phone. The patient’s survey was offered from May 3rd to June 28th 2024, which resulted in a total of 446 patients being offered the survey. No patient used the phone to complete the survey.

Survey responses

Of the 446 patients offered the survey, 26 (5.3%) responded and completed a survey. This is slightly less than 2023 when there were 29 surveys completed.

Action points

Action point A: 4/26 (this was 0% in 2023) patients were unsatisfied or worse with a virtual consultation. Of the 4 patients who were unsatisfied, 1 had cancelled appointment, 1 missed their appointment, 1 was not offered a virtual appointment and 1 did not comment
NAC Response: Systems communicating appointments to patients could be reviewed/audited to establish if there are any weak points, but any problems are at a low level.

Action point B: In 2024 the number of people who have opted for attending a clinic appointment via videoconferencing software eg. Teams this has increased proportionally, and all four options offered (ie video, face-to-face, telephone and a mixture) are now equally represented, perhaps as patients become more familiar with videoconferencing software or possibly have more access to the equipment & software needed.
NAC are going to have to maintain all options for the foreseeable future – clinics currently operate with up to 40% Face-2-Face consultations (including new patients) and maybe some of those would prefer a virtual meeting (ie video or phone).
NAC Response: To meet the needs of all patients, we will maintain the offer of video consultations where possible, but we often need to see patients Face-to-Face at least once per year..

Action point C: All patients were 100% satisfied or better with courtesy shown by all team specialities, except for one patient who was unsatisfied with the courtesy shown by the CARES
team. The patient did not make a comment to explain what this issue was about, but did complain repeatedly about a cancelled appointment (which is not something the CARES team are involved with).
NAC Response: There is no information about the complaint regarding the CARES team, but the whole team are reminded to ensure all patients are satisfied after an interaction with CARES staff.

Action point D: Four staff groups received one expression of unsatisfaction about communication and care:

  • Aspergillosis Specialist (no patients comment)
  • Doctors (patient comment ‘doctor was rude’)
  • CARES team & Admin team (patients comment (i.e. the same patient about both teams) ‘My appt was
    cancelled. No notice, no letter received. I have told PALS. So it’s going through that channel.’)

NAC Response: It is difficult to think of constructive suggestions to address the first two of these complaints. We will inform the groups involved for their own information and to ask them to
make all team members aware of this complaint for future consideration.
The comment about the CARES and Admin team refers to management of a particular appointment. This is not a task carried out by the CARES team so there may have been some confusion as to the roles of each team by this patient. The comment is a little more detailed and seems to be directed towards a particular appointment  – we should check if appointment cancellations are adequately communicated to the patient according to the patient’s needs. The hope is that use of eg. myMFT will reduce this kind of problem but we acknowledge that some patients are not yet using this resource.
The next survey (2025) will attempt to make different team roles clearer to the patient.

Acton point E: 92% (this was 97% in 2023) patients were satisfied or better with communications regarding clinic appointments. Patient comments by those who were unsatisfied mention
appointment cancellations as a possible cause:

  • Direction to clinic 3 entrance and parking would have been helpful.
  • I wasn’t told it was cancelled. I had a letter telling me I had an appt
  • Rang to cancel and rearrange but not answered

NAC Response: There seem to be a few issues with communication about appointments, so it might be worth the Admin team reviewing procedures to check that they are robust.
Additional note – providing more information to first-time patients e.g. about travel and car parking prior to them travelling, would be worthwhile. Perhaps on the appointment letter would be best.

Action point F: A very similar proportion of patients (50%) received a leaflet on antifungal side effects in 2024 (this was 52% in 2023), but this is still significantly down on 2021 (76%).
NAC Response: We can support the distribution of these leaflets to patients prescribed antifungal medication, reminding prescribing doctors & nurses to give them out. Patietns can ask for them too!

Action point G: 88% (it was 93% in 2023) understood the questions to answers that they had asked of the NAC team. 3 patients did not agree that they understood NAC staff answers to their questions.
NAC Response: All staff should be aware that a few patients may not be clearly understanding your answers to their questions, even if they say that they do. Ensure that patients are
guided to CARES team for further information & guidance if appropriate.

Action point H: 23% (this was 45% in 2023) accessed physio online materials, a significant drop.
A patient commented:

  • Not made available for me
  • Breathing exercises are useful

NAC Response: This may or may not be intended, but provides a point for Physio team to address.

Action point I: One patient would not recommend Wythenshawe Hospital to friends and family. The patients who answered no did not offer a critical comment to explain why, however this comment gives us some scope for an improvement in patient service:

  • With reservation. I had a difficult time finding out where the Lung Centre was. Signage was not good and most of the staff in the passages I asked didn’t have a clue where the Lung centre was

NAC Response: This seems similar to an earlier comment pointing out that directions to clinic could be better. We are investigating ways to get better information on getting to the NAC clinic for new patients.

Action point J. Postal service for blood & sputum tests:

  • The plastic lids of the container for the pot don’t close properly

NAC Response : We need to check pots work as intended prior to sending out patients.

Action point K: aspergillosis.org website. If you have not visited the website is there a reason why?

  • Was not made aware of it and will have a look now
  • Not aware of it
  • Didn’t know anything about it
  • I have never heard of it, didn’t know it existed
  • I don’t know how to visit
  • Didn’t realise there was one

NAC Response: Several patients do not know about the aspergillosis.org website despite all patients being texted about the website after every appointment at NAC over the last year. CARES
team to review the text message to determine if it can be improved. These resources are also mentioned in the new booklets for new patients.

Thanks to all patients who participated in the valuable exercise designed to help us improve NAC services.

NAC CARES Team 2025