27th April - 1st May

Patient Experience Week 2026

Here at Picker we believe in:

The highest quality person centred care for all, always.

Please share AND steal with pride

We encourage you to share this information with members of your teams so everyone can be an active participant in the planning and implementation process.

Remember, this is your week, so feel free to add (and share) your own ideas to develop the perfect week for your people. And let us know what you have been up to. Please share your photos, posts etc by using the hashtags:

#PEW2026 #PXWeek #PatExp

: We know that brilliant things are being done every day to improve the experience of care for all involved – patients, family members, carers and health care providers.

Patient Experience Week provides a focused time for us and other organisations to celebrate these accomplishments, re-energise and re-inspire as well as recognise the people who impact the patient experience every day.

On our PEN website we have hundreds of videos, case studies and podcasts – most are just 10 minutes long so are perfect to start a discussion for a team meeting or some personal inspiration over a coffee. These have been given to us knowing they will be shared – so please do steal with pride – with our blessing.
: Although people are making a positive difference every day, sometimes it may go un-noticed or indeed some people may not realise how much what they are doing matters. Of course we should make sure we do notice and comment, giving feedback in the moment all the time; and this week gives us another vehicle to shout about the wonderful work they are doing.
: By supporting Patient Experience Week, you are showing your people (including your patients and the community) that you appreciate their hard work and encourage their continued efforts on behalf of patients. This week is also a great way to enhance patient and colleague relations, increase morale and improve communication.

Keep the following audiences and supporters in mind when you plan your Patient Experience Week activities. Plan events during Patient Experience Week to recognise and involve these special people:

Patient Experience Teams

Highlight the work that your patient experience leaders and patient experience teams do every day. This includes of course PALs, Complaints and other governance and QI roles. They deserve recognition for all the work they do. Use Patient Experience Week to let them know how much you value their contributions to improving the patient experience in your organisation and spotlight those who do an outstanding job.

Doctors, Nurses, HCAs and other clinical teams

Good communication and cooperation across clinical teams is essential in providing a streamlined, integrated and quality patient experience. Let your clinical staff know how much you appreciate their support by recognising those who contribute to improving the patient experience in your organisation.

Ancillary Teams

ALL departments in your organisation impact the patient experience. This is the time to say thank you to these less recognised departments for their support and contributions – housekeeping, porter, reception, security, gardeners, car parking etc etc. For some patients they will see these members of the team MORE than the clinicians. Insourced or outsourced they are the patient experience too.

Executive and Administration

Patient Experience Week is a great time to highlight the activities and accomplishments to your CEO, hospital administration and other administrative staff and where relevant, how they align to your values. This week provides an opportunity to increase awareness of the patient experience improvement efforts taking place not just in your organisation but elsewhere in healthcare.

Volunteers and Third Sector

What would we do without our volunteers and third sector partners.This is the perfect time to make sure their work and contributions are show cased too.

Our volunteers are working hard to support our organisation, for example with wayfinding, taxi-service, befriending, running the charity shop or serving on panels and advisory groups, so we should make sure we are putting the spot light on them too.

Whether it is larger charities such as MacMillan, The Samaritans, the Red Cross, Pets as Therapy or local charities and clubs such as football clubs, hair dressers and beauticians or colleges and schools – they are all important to the patient experience.

Partners

We are lucky to have the support of other partners across the community. This could be formal partnerships such as the in-house coffee shop, or supermarket or partnerships on another basis for example the local taxi or bus companies or other partnerships – they all have a role to play in the patient experience and perhaps this is the ideal time to help them realise their crucial role too.

The Community

Use the week to share information and spread awareness in the community about the patient experience efforts. This could be the right time to invite local groups to get to know you and understand what your ambition is – it could help build connections for the future.

Patients

Let your patients know about the work that you do for them beyond providing them with quality healthcare. Invite them to the party – make sure they have some great opportunities to have their voices heard over this week – perhaps recruiting them to join key focus groups etc.
: We have included some ideas of things you can do over the week (or indeed anytime).

Random Acts of Kindness Challenge

Set a light-hearted challenge for teams to carry out “random acts of kindness” for patients, carers, or colleagues throughout the week. Capture these on a shared board or hashtag. Small gestures can have a big impact!

Thank You Tree

Create a physical or digital “Thank You Tree” where patients, families, and staff can hang leaves or notes recognising great care, teamwork, or moments of kindness. A visual, uplifting, and powerful morale booster.

Lunch and Learn

This week can be a great opportunity to share educational resources on improving the patient experience. If you have taken part in the PEN Awards why not show case your presentations and case studies that you have already created, or use this an opportunity to start to think about what you could enter for the PEN Awards 2026.

Patient Experience Walkabout

Ask leaders and colleagues to take a walk with you and spend time assessing services from a patient perspective - signage, waiting areas, communication, accessibility etc. Or perhaps take the 15 Step Challenge?

See if you can capture what works or what could be better to help build empathy and often identify small, quick win improvements.

Recognition Event

A recognition event is an excellent way to boost morale and recognise great practice. This is a good time for you or other leaders to present recognition certificates to your colleagues. This can be by team/ department or organisation wide.

Internal Awards
If you have the time you can run an internal awards programme where people put forward best practice and you create an awards approach to judge and award winners. This is a great opportunity to uncover the good practice that will be happening right across your organisation but may be unknown to some. We can help here if you need some ideas on approach and infrastructure – we have been running awards for over a decade and are more than happy to share!

Dragon’s Den
A fabulous way to encourage innovation and support people with new ideas. Perhaps fund a small amount of money to support them. We have some great examples where £250 or less can make a huge difference to the patient (or staff experience)) and get them to present in front of some “dragons”