Understanding children and young people's experiences of primary care
In order to improve the future health of the population, it is crucial to ensure that children and young people (CYP) have a positive experience when using health services. Yet, research about children and young people’s experience of primary care is scarce, and much of the research exploring patient experience of primary care does not capture their views.
This research project has sought to explore children and young people (CYP) and their parents’ experiences of primary care, and to understand the most effective methods for seeking feedback from CYP. It has supplemented the limited information that is currently available by providing some key learnings around CYP’s experiences of primary care, and principles for the development of a feedback tool. In order for the findings from the research to be useful however, substantial efforts will need to be made at both the national and local level to ensure that recommendations are adopted and that CYP’s opinions on primary care are increasingly heard.
The research methods used included:
- a desk review exploring and evaluating the range of strategies in use within the NHS, and internationally, for encouraging and collecting feedback from CYP about primary care.
- in-depth stakeholder interviews to understand the appetite for collection of feedback data from CYP, the ways in which the data could be used and potential barriers to collecting feedback.
- Six focus groups with CYP aged 7- to 15-years-old.
- Three focus groups with parents of CYP aged 7- to 15-years-old.
- Four in-depth interviews with parents of CYP aged 0- to 6-years-old.
- Eight in-depth interviews exploring specific issues which may affect CYP living with a long-term health condition or those who speak English as a second language.
- A real-time feedback exercise with eight CYP using the Ipsos App Life mobile application.
