Patient Experience Mission at the hospital: a lever to transform, improve, and give meaning back

.For the caregiver, this report provides guidelines for transforming patients' voices into concrete improvements: better organising reception and discharge, adapting pathways and building solutions with the cared-for individuals. It shows how this partnership can strengthen trust, support cooperation, and give meaning back to work, while specifying the necessary conditions and the difficulties to anticipate.

For the patient and their relatives, it helps to understand how their experiences can contribute to improving care and the organisation of the hospital, beyond a satisfaction questionnaire. It presents different ways to participate, distinguishes the role of partner patients from that of user representatives, and highlights the need to better hear those facing digital, linguistic, or disability-related barriers.

1️⃣ SUMMARY

This mission of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS), listed in the work programme 2024-2026, focuses on taking into account the patient experience in healthcare facilities for medicine, surgery and obstetrics (MCO). The term "patient" encompasses here the person receiving care and their entourage. The participatory approach, conducted from April to October 2025, combines a bibliographic analysis, an international comparison involving ten countries, a collaboration with HAS on e-Satis data, investigations in five already engaged establishments and a survey of user representatives.

The report distinguishes patient experience from mere satisfaction: it concerns the lived experience of the care pathway, relationships with professionals, understanding of information and the continuity of support. Its central finding is that the collection of feedback is not enough: it must lead to improvement actions designed with the patients, monitored and evaluated. While initiatives are developing, their maturity remains very variable and patient participation does not always extend to the transformation of practices.

The mission identifies several success conditions: a commitment from the governance, a clear organisation, time dedicated to the approach and a balanced partnership between patients and professionals. It highlights the potential benefits for the quality of care, cooperation and the sense of work, while warning against superficial initiatives, excessive professionalisation and tensions with teams. Particular attention is given to vulnerable groups, who are still insufficiently heard in traditional systems.

Twelve recommendations, organised into four axes, aim to structure the approach in the establishments, clarify and secure the role of partner patients, go beyond merely collecting feedback and strengthen national and regional support. Volume 2 completes these guidelines with six annexes dedicated notably to collection methods, the experiences of the five partner establishments, and the results of the survey of user representatives.

2️⃣ WHAT TO REMEMBER

1️⃣ Widespread but heterogeneous approaches (observation). An increasing number of establishments are engaging in the patient experience, but the approach often remains focused solely on collecting feedback rather than on the transformations that should result from it. In 2024, the national e-Satis score for overall satisfaction and experience for stays of more than 48 hours in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics reaches 74.8 out of 100. This result is based on 531,398 complete and usable questionnaires collected from 926 participating and ranked establishments; it does not correspond to a percentage of satisfied patients. The organisation of discharge remains the most improvable link in the hospital journey (T1 p. 3 and p. 23-24).

2️⃣ Three determinant factors (observation). The mission identifies a steering led by governance, notably the direction and the medical establishment commission, a clear structuring of the approach and a balanced partnership with patients. Interviews show that an approach can be initiated without massive financial investments, notably by relying on existing functions. It nevertheless requires time allocation, identified responsibilities and sustainable coordination; some establishments have dedicated human resources (T1 p. 3 and p. 30).

3️⃣ Risks and a blind spot (finding). Risks and a blind spot (finding). The report warns against excessive professionalisation of partner patients, insufficiently framed interventions, possible tensions with teams and display approaches motivated by certification or marketing. It favours volunteering with recognition of commitment, without excluding the recruitment of a patient for a dedicated budgetary position for expanded functions. Vulnerable groups remain insufficiently represented in traditional collection approaches, notably due to digital, linguistic or cognitive barriers (T1 p. 4, p. 6, p. 44-49).

3️⃣ TO ACT

1️⃣ Case No. 2 — existing tool explicitly cited. The ANAP produced "Collecting patient and user experience" (2023), 15 practical sheets on collection methods, and "Building solutions with the patient to improve their experience", 7 sheets on co-construction (T1 p. 35). URLs cited by the document, unverified.

2️⃣ Case No. 1 — action requested by the document. The recommendation no. 10, addressed to healthcare establishments (priority 1, deadline 2026), calls for the implementation of improvement actions derived from the collections, systematically involving patients (T1 p. 7 ; T1 p. 58).

3️⃣ Case no. 3 — preparation for an announced action. Certification HAS: take into account the requirements and organise a real progression. The report indicates that the visits for the certification cycle V.2025 began in September 2025. The imperative criterion 1.4-02, "Patient satisfaction and experience are taken into account," can alone motivate a decision of non-certification. However, the IGAS recommends maintaining the level of requirement set for this cycle, aiming for its gradual achievement over the period 2025-2030 and preparing for a strengthening for the next cycle. It warns against superficial approaches intended to formally satisfy certification without transforming practices (T1 p. 7, p. 34, p. 46-47 and p. 59).

4️⃣ 3 PRACTICAL QUESTIONS

1️⃣ Patient partner and representative of users: what is the difference? According to the report, user representatives are appointed by the ARS from members of approved associations; their appointment and functions are governed by legislative and regulatory texts. Their institutional role is distinct from that of patient partners, whose report notes, as of the date of its work in 2025, the absence of a defined legal status outside of user representation. A user representative can also act as a patient partner, provided that the framework of each of his interventions is clearly delineated (T1 p. 23).

2️⃣ How to complete e-Satis? The establishments use home visits or bedside interviews, shadowing (following a patient throughout their journey), the tracer patient, complaints, claims and thanks, user houses and permanences (T1 p. 31). The report states there is a consensus on the combination of several methods, provided that their analysis is cross-referenced (T1 p. 21 ; T2 p. 89).

3️⃣ What actions for underrepresented groups? According to the report, some establishments are developing targeted approaches: reception facilities for people with disabilities, document translation, materials that are "easy to read and understand" (FALC), training in health literacy, specific collections, mobile units (T1 p. 50).

5️⃣ TO GO FURTHER

1️⃣ Blog Health Practices: post "How to deploy patient experience questionnaires in healthcare establishments?" (15 June 2025), found on the blog's "participation" keywords page: https://pratiquesensante.odoo.com/blog/pratiques-15/tag/participation-27,citoyen-200. The exact URL of the post could not be identified: manual verification needed before dissemination. Consulted on 7 November 2026.

and some articles on patient participation - https://www.pratiquesensante.com/blog/tag/participation-patients-602

2️⃣ External resource: Rresource external subsequent to the report: HAS, "Partnership in health: structuring and developing the role of partner patients", press release of 30 June 2026 presenting a guide accompanied by a summary and practical sheets: check-lists, methodological benchmarks and examples. This resource complements the report IGAS dated November 2025; it does not constitute a source of its findings. The provided link refers to the presentation page of the guide, and not directly to the guide itself. https://has-sante.fr/jcms/p_4121671/fr/partenariat-en-sante-structurer-et-developper-le-role-des-patients-partenaires. External source, consulted on 7 November 2026.

6️⃣ #️⃣ HASHTAGS

#healthpractices #PatientExperience #PartnerPatient #HealthDemocracy #UserRepresentatives #eSatis #ExperientialKnowledge #QualityOfCare

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