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If I've been keeping up, this particular 'friends and family test' is an implementation of the Net Promoter Score commonly used in hotels and other service industries. I can see this could be of benefit - particularly since at least one company seems to have been redesigning this tool specifically for NHS patients.

I do wonder, though, whether a preference for novelty is again leading decision-makers to ignore what already works.

Although sadly I don't (yet) get paid for doing so, I'm a pretty regular promoter of PatientOpinion.org.uk - a website that allows patients to give a free-text description of their NHS care.

Trusts which have signed up for PatientOpinon's full feature set will get this feedback routed to the appropriate service managers, who will be able to respond to the patient and outline any changes made as a result of their comments. The site also pulls in patient comments left on NHS Choices.

In the last 18 months, 279 changes have been made as a result of patient feedback through PatientOpinion. The approach is demonstrably effective; if more trusts signed up and actively promoted services like this to patients, it might prove more effective in driving positive improvements than yet another headline figure.