What is the FFT and how do I take it?

The Friends and Family Test (FFT) is a means for NHS GP practices to measure patient satisfaction with their services and for them to establish areas of improvement. It also provides a vital quick anonymous way for patients to give their views after receiving care or treatment.

Patients taking the test are simply asked this question: "How likely are you to recommend our service to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?". They then rank their answer from "extremely likely" to "extremely unlikely" and can give further comments to clarify their answer.

We welcome all patients being treated at the practice to complete a FFT questionnaire after receiving treatment.

Patients can take the test by clicking here to complete the FFT questionnaire online. Alternatively, a paper copy can be collected from reception, completed and posted into our comments box.

We look forward to receiving your feedback.

How will the FFT results be used and where can I see the results?

The FFT results are gathered and analysed by the practice to see if any actions are required. The responses to the FFT question will be used to create an overall score, which will be published online. The comments, however, are retained by the service, to pass on to staff and managers. If you have opted out from having your comments shared then they will not be shared.

You can view the results for this practice on the NHS Choices website. Simply use the Services near you search tool, select your NHS practice and perform a postcode search. Select the provider you wish to look up. On the overview page of the provider's profile, you will find a selection tool that is called "Quality of service" or "Key facts". Here you can see the overall FFT score for the service provider, telling you what percentage of people would recommend the service. To find out about the data, select the link "Find out more about this data". Additional FFT data is published by NHS England.

If you have any further queries about the test please ask at reception.