Impact Report 2024 – 2025 Influence • Inspire • Empower
Our Picker Principles Our eight Picker Principles of Person Centred Care underpin everything we do, providing a consistent, evidence-based framework for our work around the globe. The Principles outline what matters most to those who use care services, and specify the eight key elements which should remain non-negotiable when delivering care.
Fast access to reliable healthcare advice
Effective treatment by trusted professionals
Continuity of care and smooth transitions
Involvement and support for family and carers
Clear information, communication and support for self-care
Involvement in decisions and respect for preferences
Attention to physical & environmental needs
Emotional support, empathy and respect
Contents Picker Principles
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Reflections from the Chair
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My experience: The ripple effect of a single patient journey
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Listening and learning: Shaping care through understanding experiences
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Measuring what matters: The importance of effective experience measurement and insight
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Working collectively to harness the insights that improve cancer care
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Fostering collaboration and developing connections that count
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Celebrating excellence: Inspiration and recognition
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The Picker Experience Network Awards
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A breath of fresh air: The story behind the 2024 Picker Experience Network Awards overall winner, University Hospitals Plymouth (UHP) NHS Trust
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CEO’s forward view
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Picker Impact Report
2024 – 2025
Reflections from the Chair I’m delighted to introduce Picker’s 2024/25 Impact Report. This year, our team has supported more health and care professionals, organisations, and systems than ever before, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to our vision of the highest quality person centred care for all, always. We are proud to mark our 25th anniversary as an independent charity. While we have achieved much, there is still more to do. Across the world, healthcare systems continue to face familiar challenges: limited funding, staffing pressures, and fragmented services. Patients and families feel the weight of these struggles through impersonal care, missed connections, and a lack of involvement in decisions, resulting in avoidable disparities in quality. Such gaps in care only serve to deepen inequalities in access and outcomes, leaving the most vulnerable in our communities at greater risk. I remain convinced that our work and methods to better equip people to implement a person centred approach offer a transformative solution to these challenges. Empowering organisations and professionals to understand, measure, and improve experiences paves the way for more compassionate, effective, and sustainable healthcare systems that address both individual and community needs. Throughout this report we share some of the best examples of our work in a busy year. I hope that as you explore the highlights in this report, you will, like me, recognise that despite the many challenges, there is significant progress, profound insight, enduring excellence, and genuine inspiration to be found and celebrated.
Angela Coulter Chair of the Board of Trustees
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Every experience holds the power to inspire, challenge, and transform the way care is delivered, one moment, one conversation, one ripple at a time.
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My experience: The ripple effect of a single patient journey “I’ll never say anything I can’t live by”. That’s Sara Turle: straightforward, sincere, and unafraid to share her truth. Diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at 50, her life shifted overnight. One in two people will now hear the words ‘you have cancer’ – a reality that touches nearly every family. Sara’s story is uniquely hers, but the emotions, challenges, and moments she shares resonate deeply for all of us.
Facing breast cancer Sara was healthy, thriving, and had recently celebrated her 50th birthday when the diagnosis came.
“We’re the only constant in our care. It just makes sense that we’re at the table, helping to get it right first time”. Sara Turle
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Aggressive breast cancer had spread quickly. “Everything but the kitchen sink” was thrown at her: chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed. The treatments were intense and, at times, life-threatening, with complications ranging from anaphylactic reactions to sepsis. But post treatment it was the mental and emotional strain that made Sara reassess her future. “I could put on a face in public, but behind closed doors, I felt overwhelmed”, she reflects. Despite returning to work and even earning a promotion to the senior leadership team, Sara realised the pressure she was placing on herself and the impact it was having on her well-being. At 54, Sara made the choice to step away from her career, choosing to move forward with purpose and positivity. That was not an easy journey either: “When my career came to an end, I lost my identity. Who was I now?”.
Picker Impact Report
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The café moment A meeting that changed everything. One of those unexpected, life-changing moments happened in a hospital café. Sara bumped into the Medical Director at Barking, Havering, and Redbridge NHS Trust. “I saw him and thought, I’d like to thank him” she recalls. But what began as a simple thank you became a defining moment. In just a few minutes, the Medical Director saw potential in Sara’s perspective: “He didn’t just open doors, he walked through them with me”. Their partnership laid the groundwork for the trust’s Patient Partnership Council, embedding patient voices deeply into governance and care structures. They went on to develop initiatives that would positively impact other care providers, patients, and families across the country.
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From partnership to national recognition While the Patient Partnership Council was a pivotal first step, it was Sara’s involvement in the ‘Patient Voice’ initiative that led to national recognition. Sara was instrumental in creating patient-led films to help others navigate the emotional and practical challenges of cancer treatment. The first film, ‘Getting to Know Us,’ captured raw, honest accounts from patients, offering comfort and guidance to those newly diagnosed. The success of this project inspired a second patient led film, ‘Getting to Know Chemotherapy’, providing practical insights for anyone undergoing treatment. Both films resonated deeply with patients, families and healthcare professionals alike, earning the trust a Picker Experience Network Awards for their innovative, person centred approach.
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Unshakeable commitment In 2023, Sara faced another pivotal moment: a diagnosis of incurable lung cancer. While she continues to speak with deep gratitude and praise for the compassionate care of NHS staff, she remains candid about where improvements are needed. Her most powerful message is clear: “Leaders need to see, feel, hear. They need to walk the floors”. Sara fears that decision-makers are becoming detached, making key choices without fully understanding the lived realities of patients and staff. But beyond listening, she emphasises the importance of true partnership. “It’s not about just being heard, it’s about truly working together”. Sara also rejects the idea of being labelled a ‘critical friend’. “I’m not here to criticise. I’m here to learn together, to improve things side-by-side. It’s about partnership, not pointing fingers”. Sara doesn’t just talk about patient partnership, she lives it. She believes that real insight comes from genuine, hands-on engagement, not just from meetings or reports. During her time at Barking, Havering, and Redbridge NHS Trust, she became known as the ‘Metro (newspaper) Lady’, a reflection of her belief that both leadership and improvement practice need to be grounded in the realities of patient care. She walked the hospital wards, handing out newspapers, chatting with patients, and picking up on the everyday experiences that often go unnoticed at the boardroom table. “I’d walk the wards, handing out Metros, picking up on the vibe. It wasn’t just about being in meetings, it was about seeing, feeling, hearing what really mattered”. Sara models the very principles she advocates for: showing up, listening, and understanding care where it happens. For her, truly impactful leadership in healthcare can’t happen at a distance from the frontline – it’s about being present, immersed, and willing to learn from the people living it every day. She advocates for more hospice care, better end-of-life support, and a healthcare system where patients are active partners in shaping the care they receive.
The ripple effect Sara’s story is proof that a single voice can create waves of change. From a chance café conversation to reshaping patient care practices through the ‘Patient Voice’ initiative, her journey embodies the ripple effect. It reminds us that every experience holds the power to inspire, challenge, and transform the way care is delivered, one moment, one conversation, one ripple at a time.
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At the heart of person centred care lies the belief that truly understanding people’s experiences can drive meaningful improvements in care quality.
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Listening and learning: Shaping care through understanding experiences At the heart of person centred care lies the belief that truly understanding people’s experiences can drive meaningful improvements in care quality. By listening to and valuing people’s voices, we can uncover gaps in support, shaping care pathways that are more responsive, equitable, and compassionate for all. But to realise this potential we must continue to strive to make feedback as inclusive and representative as possible. A new peer-reviewed, open access paper by Picker published in BMJ Open provides an approach to understanding and tackling under-representation in patient experience research. TAURUS (Toolkit for Assessing Under Representation in User Surveys) helps researchers and health and care providers take steps to make sure diverse voices are represented and heard when gathering feedback. Read the paper here.
Why does this matter? Representation in patient feedback is vital for promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion – but it can often be the case that not everyone’s voice is heard when care services ask people about their experiences. If the feedback we collect does not include people from different groups (such as populations defined by protected characteristics or socially excluded communities) then we cannot understand their needs, preferences, and experiences. This can lead to missed opportunities to improve services for those who need it most. The paper identifies and addresses the five main reasons why people can be missing from feedback:
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Non-access. Some people are unable to receive care at all, and their experiences as non‑users can be overlooked.
Non-invitation. Some patients are left out of surveys because of missing records or limited outreach.
Non-response. Some people may not fill in surveys because of language barriers, mistrust, or accessibility issues.
Non-identification.
If surveys do not ask the right questions, differences between groups cannot be identified.
Non-review. Even when data is collected, differences in experience may not be investigated.
Picker Impact Report
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Commenting on the importance of this paper, Chris Graham, lead author and Group CEO of Picker said:
“Patient experience research provides a user perspective on the quality of health and care services and offers the insight to ensure that care is truly person centred. “To make sure that care is equitable – that it is person centred for all people, always – it’s vital that patient experience measures take into account the views of a diverse range of users. But this can be challenging, and as a result too many voices are left unheard. “We’re delighted to share this new toolkit to aid researchers and health professionals in understanding and improving the representativeness of their work. “By describing the different reasons why people’s voices may be missing we offer users the framework and language to identify, assess, and ultimately reduce underrepresentation. We encourage researchers and health service providers alike to adopt this free tool for use in reviewing their own collections.”
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Effective experience measurement drives meaningful change, turning feedback into insights that improve care and advance person centred approaches.
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Measuring what matters: The importance of effective experience measurement and insight Picker’s experience measurement tools and services continue to play a pivotal role in shaping healthcare systems worldwide. By providing robust, evidence-based insights into people’s experiences, these tools have influenced care delivery at every level, from individual patient interactions to national health policies.
Programs of work in over
85 Countries
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Picker Impact Report
2024 – 2025
The global adoption of these methodologies underscores their effectiveness in identifying gaps in care, driving systemic improvements, and promoting person centred approaches across diverse healthcare contexts.
Supporting over
300
organisations to understand, measure and improve care experiences
Developing care quality insights by providing over
1.9 million opportunities to understand, measure, and act on people’s feedback of care
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Partnership is key to improving care, amplifying awareness, fostering engagement, and enhancing experiences for those affected by cancer.
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Working collectively to harness the insights that improve cancer care In partnership with public and third sector organisations, our work in cancer care has deepened understanding and responded to the real needs of people living with, or having experienced, different types of cancer, as well as those who care for them.
NHS England – Adult Cancer Experience Programme
By adapting our experience measurement tools to meet the unique challenges of cancer care, while upholding rigorous and consistent methodologies, we have ensured that the insights gathered are both meaningful and comparable across care settings around the world.
Myelodysplastic Syndromes Alliance
We are deeply grateful to all of our lead partner organisations. Their commitment to shape and fund these initiatives is critical to our collective efforts.
NHS England – U16 Children and Young People Cancer Experience Programme
Acute Leukaemia Advocate Network Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia Advocates Network Programme International Kidney Cancer Coalition
This collaborative approach amplifies awareness and drives engagement, uniting the strengths of like-minded organisations to showcase best practice and identify most important area’s for improvement from the user perspective. The global reach of this work reflects its breadth of impact, delivering insights and innovations that help make high-quality cancer care a reality for all.
Covered
Engaging with over
79
139,000
different countries
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people living with and/or having lived with cancer across the world
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Collaboration and knowledge-sharing are at the heart of our mission to drive improvements in person centred care.
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Fostering collaboration and developing connections that count Collaboration and knowledge-sharing are at the heart of our mission to drive improvements in person centred care. By investing in initiatives that share insights, celebrate excellence, and nuture community, we strive to create opportunities for learning, engagement, and innovation that benefit care recipients and professionals alike. This year we shared our insights with a diverse set of audiences through activities including hosting a national symposium and workshop, participating in key events, and publishing original research.
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Picker Impact Report
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Experience of Care Symposium
Peer reviewed papers published
• Partnership with Point of Care Foundation.
• Four papers published in peer-reviewed journals.
• Connecting healthcare leaders and professionals to gain practical strategies, network with thought leaders, and influence the future of person centred care.
Our attendance at key events • Delivering keynotes, presentations, and workshops across eight countries, from London to Barcelona and Riyadh.
6 National and 54 local insight and improvement workshops held
Over 200 licensees using our experience measurement toolkits
• Supporting over 580 health and care professionals across the UK to understand and act on their experience of care findings.
• Organisations from eight countries joining our international experience benchmarking group.
“This work not only amplifies the impact of our research but also strengthens networks and partnerships, both nationally and globally. By facilitating dialogue, promoting evidence-based practice, and fostering a learning culture, we help unlock the potential for meaningful, experience led, improvements in care quality”. Jenny King Chief Research Officer Influence • Inspire • Empower
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It has always been about bringing people together. That’s how we make change happen. That’s how we keep moving forward.
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Celebrating excellence: Inspiration and recognition Ruth Evans MBE is a true patient experience luminary, whose passion and dedication have transformed healthcare across the UK. As the founder of the Patient Experience Network (PEN) and the Patient Experience Network National Awards (PENNA), Ruth has championed a culture where lived experiences are the driving force for excellence. In 2024, Picker proudly welcomed PEN into its family, aligning two visionary organisations committed to person centred care.
A lifelong passion for experience-led care Tell us a little about yourself and why you became so passionate about the power of being experience-led. “My background has always been in healthcare, and for many years I was responsible for the experience we delivered to clients across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It was during that time that I truly started to understand the critical importance of the people, not just the systems and processes, but the individuals behind them. Defining what you want to deliver is one thing, but ensuring you do it consistently, with people at the heart, is another. “I then took a short step away from healthcare into the wider customer service world, working with some incredible organisations, including the Institute of Customer Service. That was a pivotal moment for me because I really got to grips with what world-class service looks like, what it means to truly deliver an exceptional experience. But I always knew I wanted to come back to healthcare.
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“That’s where the idea for PEN came from. I didn’t see the point in reinventing the wheel or competing in a space where time, resource, and funding are so limited. Instead, I wanted to create something new, something that wasn’t being done elsewhere. One of the first things we did was launch the Awards. There’s always a lot of press coverage about what isn’t working in healthcare, but I’ve always believed we can learn just as much, if not more, from when things go right. We needed a way to celebrate the good, to recognise and share best practice, and to create a network where like-minded people could come together to drive real change.”
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The essence of the network and the awards What makes the Network and the Awards so special and impactful? “PEN is made up of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It’s not just an organisation, it’s a movement, a collective of people who are passionate about improving the experience of care for everyone. That means patients, their families, and carers, but also the people delivering care. Healthcare professionals, support staff, everyone. “What makes the PEN Awards so special is the emotion behind it. When you see the joy, the tears, the sheer celebration at the awards, you realise just how much it means to people. It’s not just about receiving a trophy, it’s about the journey. I’ve heard so many stories of teams taking what they’ve learned through the process and continuing the conversations long after the
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awards ceremony is over. Back at their hospitals, in their workplaces, they’re talking about what they’ve achieved, how they can go further, how they can embed real change. “That’s the real power of PEN Awards. It’s a virtuous circle. Just taking part is an achievement, it gives people a chance to reflect on their work, to see the impact they’re having. The judging process is incredibly rigorous, and the feedback people receive is invaluable. It’s about celebrating, learning, and sharing. It’s about putting your head above the parapet and saying, ‘Look at what we’re doing. Let’s share it, let’s build on it, let’s inspire others.’”
Picker Impact Report
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Looking ahead: Challenges and opportunities As you look ahead, how do you see the Network and the Awards continuing to support organisations in overcoming the challenges of delivering person centred care? “The challenges people are facing today are enormous. Resourcing issues, increasing demand, financial constraints, it’s relentless. Yet in the midst of all that, people are still finding ways to deliver incredible care. “One of the biggest challenges is making sure that people feel heard and valued. That’s where we play such an important role. By being part of the Network and the Awards, organisations are giving their teams a platform, a way to be recognised for what they do. When people feel engaged, supported, and appreciated, they bring their best selves to work. “Being part of the Network means being part of something bigger than your organisation. It means knowing that you’re not alone in the challenges you face, that there’s a whole community of people striving for the same thing, better experiences for all.
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“I always say that taking part in the Awards is a win-win-win. It’s a win for the teams who are recognised for their work. It’s a win for the patients who benefit from better care. And it’s a win for organisations, who see real improvements in things like efficiency, staff engagement, and reputation. “But there’s still so much more we can do. The future of PEN is about continuing to champion person centred care, about making sure the art of the possible is realised, about ensuring that people never stop sharing and celebrating excellence. “At its heart, it has always been about bringing people together. That’s how we make change happen. That’s how we keep moving forward.”
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The Picker Experience Network Awards PENA are the first and only awards programme in the UK dedicated to recognising and celebrating best practice in patient experience across health and social care. From hospitals and community services to independent care providers and international organisations, PENA showcases the incredible work being done to put patients, families, and carers at the heart of care delivery. These awards are more than just accolade, they are a platform to share inspiring stories, highlight innovative practices, and cultivate a community of learning and improvement. Each submission represents a commitment to enhancing the patient experience, whether through ground-breaking technology, compassionate care models, or collaborative partnerships that span sectors and borders.
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“That’s the real power of PEN Awards. It’s a virtuous circle. Just taking part is an achievement, it gives people a chance to reflect on their work, to see the impact they’re having”. Ruth Evans
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Over
320 attendees Over
160
submissions across 20 categories
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For 2025, we are thrilled to announce two new categories: Independent Sector Award: Honouring excellence in person centred care by private and independent providers.
International Award: Showcasing outstanding experience led initiatives from organisations outside the UK.
The 2025 timeline for the Picker Experience Network Awards: Friday 31st January 2025
finalists
Student Categories Open for Submissions
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Monday 3rd March 2025 All Categories Open for submissions
one overall winner
All Submissions Close for entry
Over
Monday 28th July 2025
winners and
60
poster presentations sharing entrants’ experience improvement programmes
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Knowledge‑sharing presentations given by winners, offering in‑depth knowledge and real‑world examples of excellence
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Sunday 29th June 2025
Shortlisted Finalists Announced
Thursday 2nd October 2025 Live ceremony in Birmingham
Join us as we celebrate the people, programmes, and partnerships that are shaping the future of patient experience. Together, we will continue to drive meaningful change, amplify patient voices, and champion the amazing examples of person centred care that truly make a difference.
Read more about our awards picker.org/events
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A breath of fresh air: The story behind the 2024 Picker Experience Network Awards overall winner, University Hospitals Plymouth (UHP) NHS Trust. UHP is the largest hospital in the English South West Peninsula, providing comprehensive secondary and tertiary healthcare, including a major trauma centre. For many, time spent in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) marks a profound, life-altering chapter, not just for the individual, but for their families too. In 2018, a patient’s longing for something as simple as fresh air became the seed for a project that would grow to reshape how care is delivered. Injured abroad and left paralysed after an assault, he yearned to see his dogs and escape the four walls that confined him. His story ignited a vision within the clinical team, setting into motion the creation of the Secret Garden.
“It’s something most of us take for granted, but for those patients, their family/loved ones, and those caring for them the opportunity to see the sky, breath fresh air and feel part of the real world again is an enormously uplifting thing”.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the garden became a lifeline: the first in the UK to offer fresh air therapy for ICU patients and their loved ones during unprecedented times of isolation. Yet, beyond the technical achievements, the Secret Garden is a testament to what happens when care extends beyond clinical walls. Patients, families, and staff describe the garden not as an extension of the hospital, but as a sanctuary where life feels a little more normal.
“Time in the garden meant she existed outside of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit… the wind through her hair, the sun on her face… it meant everything to us”. The project faced multiple hurdles, from construction delays to budget overruns, but the commitment to creating a healing space never wavered. Since its official opening in 2022, over 5,000 patients, families, and staff have experienced the garden’s benefits, proving that when teams unite around a shared goal, extraordinary transformations can unfold. Now, the garden’s success is shaping national guidelines for fresh air therapy in partnership with the Intensive Care Society, with aspirations to inspire similar spaces across the UK. The Secret Garden is more than just a project: it is a reminder that the simplest human needs, like a breath of fresh air, can spark revolutions in care, transforming experiences and supporting improved outcomes for all. “We are overwhelmed by the support and expertise of our interprofessional teams who support the garden everyday, to offer every patient and their loved ones a place of calm and peace when they need it.
An unused courtyard near the ICU was identified in July 2018. By Christmas eve that same year, it opened its doors. But this was only the beginning.
The PEN Awards award has facilitated support and awareness from our senior teams to build further provision for fresh air spaces and end of life care for our neonatal patients and their loved ones.”
Through relentless fundraising, over £750,000 was secured to transform the space into a fully equipped outdoor ICU environment, complete with medical gases, power supplies, and weather protection.
Kate Tantam Specialist Sister ICU, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
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CEO’s forward view The power of every experience Our impact report is an opportunity to reflect on the past year – and I’m pleased that we can do so with a sense of pride in the difference our efforts have made. We have helped our partners to listen to and work with patients and the public to change care for the better, and to put people’s needs and priorities at the heart of services. Today, our vision of the highest quality person centred care for all, always, is more urgent and vital than ever. Health and care systems around the world face challenges from rising demand, constrained resources, and widening inequalities. These are not problems that can be fixed with sticking plasters: they require more thorough transformation and new ways of thinking. This creates both an opportunity and a need to embrace person centredness as the starting point for care, and to recognise the transformative value of learning from and acting on people’s experiences. Our work over the coming years will support organisations in moving beyond measurement to meaningfully improve care through:
• Supporting organisations to understand and improve their maturity in using people’s experiences of care – helping them to build strategies and cultures rooted in person centredness; • Evolving approaches to measuring and benchmarking people’s experiences of care, ensuring that providers, commissioners, and policy makers alike have the right insights to help them make and sustain improvements at all levels; • Expanding our learning and development offer to equip professionals with the skills, tools, and knowledge to deliver meaningful change; and • Strengthening the Picker Experience Network to share learning and best practice, to foster collaboration, and to celebrate those leading the way in person centred care.
The future of healthcare will depend on our ability to listen, collaborate, and act. Health and care are team pursuits: no single organisation can succeed in driving meaningful, sustainable change alone. It takes shared commitment, partnership working across sectors, and a collective focus on ensuring that care is not only effective but also appropriate, equitable, and compassionate. As we look ahead, we will continue to be guided by our vision of the highest quality person centred care for all, always. By working together, valuing diversity, embracing innovation, and retaining a focus on people as partners in care, we can create a future where every experience has the potential to inspire meaningful change.
Sara Turle
Influence • Inspire • Empower
Chris Graham Group CEO
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