Patient Narrative

Patient Narrative Project

Patient Experience

Patient experience needs to be central to the planning and delivery of health and social care services. To build trust and confidence in services we must listen to and learn from the experiences of service users.

The Patient Narrative Project is a multi-phase national patient experience project which was initiated in 2016 through HSE Clinical Strategy and Programmes, (now Clinical Design and Innovation), following the establishment of the 4 Integrated Care Programmes. 

Its objectives are to:

•  develop a way of measuring the degree to which integrated care is being experienced by service users
•  support service user involvement in the planning and delivery of health and social care services, to ensure patients/service users are receiving quality, person-centred care 

The Voice of the Service User

The Patient Narrative Project positions the voice of the patient/service user centrally in a partnership approach to the design and delivery of healthcare.

The rich information gained from hearing the stories (narratives) of people using Irish health services and using these stories to give direction to and drive health service design and improvements will lead to individuals having a better experience of our health service.

The experience that an individual has in our health service is as important as the clinical effectiveness and safety in the treatment and care they receive.                         

Project Overview

The Patient Narrative Project has four identified phases of work. It is currently in phase 3.

Phase 1 

Development by service users of a definition and description of person-centred coordinated care. 

Phase 2 

Development and pilot of 'Your Voice Matters' survey.

Phase 3

Further implementation and roll out in identified sites to test, evaluate and refine 'Your Voice Matters' into an effective, sustainable means of capturing patient experiences. 

Phase 4

Embed 'Your Voice Matters' within the suite of Patient Experience tools available to support co-design and improvement initiatives across HSE health and social care services.