Page 75 - Experience Based Co-design - a toolkit for Australia

SERVICE TOUCHPOINTS AND HOTSPOTS
WHAT
A touchpoint is any moment where a user interacts in some way with the service. Examples could be; arriving on the ward, talking with a nurse, waking up after surgery, mealtimes, being discharged. They include letters and brochures, websites, signage, equipment for patients (such as gowns) and even the appearance of facilities. Personal interactions (both words and actions) are often important touchpoints too, because they are crucial to service experiences.
A hotspot is a high value touchpoint that you can improve quickly and easily and has significant impact on patient experiences of the service.
In healthcare services, improvement ideas often involve changes to an existing touchpoint, such as using better pictures in an existing brochure. They may also involve new touchpoints, such as using videos instead of brochures to communicate with patients.
WHY
This tool helps you understand exactly what makes your service work for patients.
Knowing which touchpoints patients value most helps you decide which areas to prioritise for improvement, and how best to do so.
WHEN
The best time to use this tool is after you have developed an understanding of patient experiences and a selection of improvement ideas.
Touchpoints and emotions
“...these [touchpoints] are the points of contact with the service that are intensely ‘personal’ points on the journey, where one recalls being touched emotionally (feelings) or cognitively (deep and lasting memories) in some indelible kind of way”.
(Bate and Robert, 2007).
HOW
1. Summarise what you know so far about the patient journey
Using the information from your exploration of patient experiences and improvement ideas, fill in the first three columns of the touchpoint development template, starting with good and bad patient experiences of services. For each experience, note the values and actions that contribute to it, then any relevant improvements. Note: this might take a few sheets of paper.
2. Identify possible touchpoints
Review the completed touchpoint development template for each experience and identify existing and/or possible touchpoint ideas.
These touchpoints may be:
(a) the way service is currently delivered or (b) ways it could be delivered better.