Trusts to foot bill for new ‘customer service’ training
New compulsory customer service training to help non-clinical staff better advise elective patients and “handle difficult conversations with compassion” will be paid for from providers’ existing budgets, HSJ understands.
The new training for staff in patient-facing roles such as receptionists and booking clerks is part of a set of proposals in the joint government and NHS elective reform plan designed at improving patient experience, as reported by HSJ on Sunday.
The plan, Reforming elective care for patients, says: “NHS elective care providers will make customer care training available to non-clinical staff with patient-facing roles, as well as ensure take-up of the training already available on the eReferral Service to support effective referral, booking and waiting list management processes.”
NHS England told HSJ the training would include “further developing [employees’] communication skills, handling difficult conversations with compassion, and dealing with complaints – this is alongside boosting uptake of existing training for waiting list management processes”.
The Department for Health and Social Care said the training was part of the plan’s pledge to deliver “a new gold standard retail offer” for patients. Other measures being introduced include ensuring all acute hospitals have a named patients’ experience champion and upgrades to the NHS app.
NHSE declined to comment on whether any new funding would be available to trusts to help pay for the training, but HSJ understands there is not going to be any additional funding available.
Arrangements for how the initiative will work are being progressed as part of the process around the national planning guidance, publication of which has been delayed.
The plan also says NHS England will develop “an online repository of national and regional training options to support operational colleagues to make the most use of limited resources”. This will however not be available until March 2026.
An NHSE spokesperson added: “At the heart of this new plan are a range of measures to dramatically improve the experience patients receive while waiting for treatment, including from non-clinical frontline staff who provide vital services like managing appointments, sending updates, and booking patient transport.”
The plan also sets out plans to provide patients with more choices about where to get their elective treatment and to improve the NHS app, as HSJ reported on Tuesday.
The government has set a target of all acute and specialist acute trusts making at least 70 per cent of elective appointments available for patients to view and manage through the app by March next year.
The prime minister said patients booking appointments in the NHS should be able to get the same level of convenience they “take for granted” using other services such as online shopping and dating.
The elective reform plan set out a series of strategies intended to help the NHS meet the 18-week statutory standard’s 92 per cent benchmark by March 2029.