The right measure

The new NHS framework for patient experience offers, suggests Jocelyn Cornwall of the King's Fund, a secure evidence base for measuring and improving this key aspect of healthcare. She also argues that measures of patient experience should be aligned with clinical level data on processes and outcomes and embedded in the new NICE quality standard. A discussion paper from NHS Confederation aims to stimulate debate on what it calls the uneasy consensus between patients, citizens and the NHS. While patient experience is not entirely about keeping people happy, some research on the shape of happiness over the lifecourse may be of interest: a survey by ONS shows that happiness is a U-shaped curve, highest amonst teens and people in their 70s.