Practice Accreditation Resources

Downloadable user guide, FAQs and
helpful articles to support your practice

CFEP Surveys' Comprehensive PAIS Guide

The CFEP Surveys’ Comprehensive Practice Accreditation and Improvement Survey Guide has been crafted to support your practice to harness the feedback provided in your PAIS.

The guide provides an in-depth explanation the What, Why and How of PAIS to help practice staff improve patient and carer participation, and consumer engagement.

Below is a live copy of the quick guide for preview, with the entire comprehensive guide available for download.

PAIS Guide
FAQs
Helpful Articles
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PAIS Frequently Asked Questions

Patient FAQs (key informants)

Usually, all the forms for both individual and practice-level feedback can be collected within one month. Unplanned staff absence and holidays are the main reasons for delay.

Paper survey: If you have been asked to complete the survey in the general practice,  please do so and pop the completed survey in the secure returns box before you leave. Alternatively, ask for a prepaid return envelope and send your survey back once complete.

Online survey: If you have been asked to complete an online survey, please do so in the time period specified.

Online survey: If you have been asked to complete an online survey within the practice either using a practice handheld device (e.g. iPad) or your own device (e.g., smart phone), please do so after your consultation but before you leave the practice. If you have been sent a link via SMS or email please try and complete as soon as you can, post your practice visit.

The sooner you complete the better your recollection of your experience will be.

The survey asks you to provide feedback on your experience of care: your dealings with practice staff and how the practice is organised, e.g. how easy it is to get appointments.

As a valued patient we would like to understand your experience of the care we provide to you and other patients. Your feedback helps us identify what we are doing well and where we can improve. Please be honest and open in your responses.

No, the feedback you provide will not identify you. All feedback is provided anonymously. While we ask you to provide some demographic data, e.g. age, gender etc., we have no way of identifying you.

If you need help completing the survey, please speak to a member of staff at the practice or ask a family member or friend to help you out. Please ensure the responses provided are your personal responses and not swayed by the views of others.

If English is not your first language and you need interpreting or translation services, contact Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 13 14 50- a 24/7 government initiated interpreting service.

If you are deaf or partial hearing and require assistance, contact the National Relay Service on 1800 555 660- a 24/7 government-initiated relay service for the deaf and/or hard of hearing.

If you are sight impaired please contact Vision Australia on 1300 84 74 66 to access support agents.

The feedback you provide will be analysed by CFEP Surveys team and amalgamated with feedback provided by other patients. Results of this analysis will be provided in a report to the practice.

The report contains the combined results of the survey. This may be presented at an individual clinician level – e.g. results that directly relate to a doctor or nurse, or at a practice level, i.e. mresults that relate to the practice as a whole.

The report is not typically provided to individual patients. If your practice is not a private business but associated with a state health agency you may be able to access it by making a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Not unless the practice choses to share them. Results may be published in the practice newsletter, notice board or even on the website – but this is at the discretion of the practice.

If you have any questions about the survey, please speak to a receptionist or ask to speak with the Practice Manager.

Practice staff and consumer representatives FAQs

Usually, all the forms for both individual and practice level feedback can be collected within mone month. Unplanned staff absence and holidays are the main reasons for delay.

Patient experience surveys like PAIS ask about the patient’s experience of interactions with the practice and the consultation, and about the organisation of the practice (e.g. how easy it is to get appointments).

Survey results can be presented either for the group practice as a whole, for an individual practice or for individual clinicians or staff groups. Practices seeking accreditation need to understand their practice-level results to inform continuous quality improvement. Clinicians who wish to use the results of patient surveys to inform plans for continual professional development need to know their personal results and feedback.

If you use CFEP Surveys’ PAIS, analysis and reports are part of the service. We provide you with a report of your practice results.

PAIS is a validated survey tool. All the questions have been rigorously tested and will be used in their original form, but it may be possible to create your own survey. Discuss your needs with CFEP Surveys so we can advise how we can support you to create your own survey.

Of course, you can design your own survey from scratch, but note that CFEP Surveys has years of experience and has done extensive work to validate each question of PAIS. If you have particular questions you would like to ask your patients, for example you might be able to add questions to PAIS, please contact CFEP Surveys to discuss how we can support you.

Yes. All results are confidential unless you choose to share them with your PHN. Every individual within your practice should receive their personal results in confidence.

Yes. It’s common for nurses and nurse practitioners to receive individual feedback.

Not unless you choose to share them, although it might be possible for a patient to claim access to them under Freedom of Information laws if your practice is part of a state or territory health service rather than a private entity.

Postal surveys may be better at harnessing the views of patients who attend the practice infrequently or are housebound, but in-practice surveys (where the form is handed to the patient after their consultation) make it easier to get a higher response rate and scores for mindividual doctors.

Interestingly, evidence shows this is not the case. Recent research from the USA shows that handing out surveys to those patients who you think will rate you favourably makes no difference to practice scores. Further, doing this gives you a biased view of your practice and operations and effectively defeats the purpose of implementing a survey in the first place – so it’s best not to try.

An annual interval seems appropriate for monitoring progress and allowing time for any changes made after the last survey to take place and make an impact.

Yes. CFEP Surveys has national and local benchmarks we can share with you.

Surveys can be a useful contribution to personal and practice feedback. CFEP Surveys’ PAIS will help you secure direct feedback from patients about your performance which may be used to assess your performance; identify opportunities for personal development, growth and improvement; and identify priorities for action planning, therefore contributing to your CPD requirements.

Looking for more information?

Check out our Insights Blog to read more about PAIS, accreditation, quality improvement, patient feedback, and how it helps the Australian healthcare sector. New articles posted regularly.

We are excited to announce the recent implementation of a website quality improvement initiative. CFEP Surveys' products and services are now available for purchase online. Our new digital solution has been thoughtfully developed to enable a smooth, simple application and purchase process, while strengthening data security. Please contact our friendly team if you would like to discuss any of these updates and thank you for your continued support.

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