Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the annual cost to the National Health Service of the customer satisfaction surveys conducted by text message; and to what use the results of such surveys are put.

A range of surveys are conducted to understand the views and experience of those using NHS services. The National Health Survey patient experience survey programme uses a postal methodology and does not currently involve text messaging.

The NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) is not a traditional customer satisfaction survey, but provides continuous opportunities for near real-time feedback from patients about their experience of care and treatment. Healthcare providers can provide a feedback collection method that suits them. Most use low-cost paper feedback forms and collection boxes but some use text messaging. NHS England does not gather information on the cost of this.

FFT provides a rich source of patient views that has proved valuable in making improvements to local services.