| Summary: | Background: The literature surrounding patient feedback is limited, despite government policy integrating patient feedback into how the care quality of the National Health Service (NHS) is assessed. Notably, previous literature neglects to examine the detailed contextualised accounts of the service user through qualitative alongside quantitative analysis.
Methodology: A mixed methods approach was adopted to explore patient feedback data. The data was collected by volunteers on behalf of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Quantitative analysis was used to analyse Likert Scare responses which reflected positive or negative/neutral overall feedback. Qualitative analysis was conducted to explore patient free-text comments. A comparison was made between forensic and non-forensic patient populations.
Analysis: Chi-Square tests were performed to investigate forensic and non-forensic patient feedback. Conventional content analysis was conducted to derive codes from the data. The codes were distributed into categories that represented the explicit views of the patient in order to understand and support quantitative findings.
Findings: The findings revealed that forensic patients were more likely to give negative feedback of mental healthcare services than non-forensic patients. A significant difference was found between patient involvement and the level of security within forensic services. Furthermore, the level of security within forensic services did not reveal any significant differences in patient feedback. Qualitative analysis provided further insight into these differences. The institutional practice of the service, staffing quality and the power differential between patient and staff, reflected more negative comments within the forensic population.
Conclusion: Forensic mental healthcare practice should operative within a framework of values and standards of both personal and ethical considerations alongside balancing public protection and patient care. The study reveals important differences with regard to the practice environment of forensic and non-forensic mental healthcare services. The findings of the present study contribute to knowledge within mental healthcare practice, highlighting the challenges faced by staff and volunteers when collecting patient feedback. The study makes recommendations to practice-based interventions to reduce the consequence of these challenges and explores recommendations for future research.
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