Patient experience is one of the eight Quality Indicators for Emergency Departments (EDs) in England. Patient surveying in EDs can be a tricky business, given the kind of patients we see. Fortunately, the wealth of expertise and experience held by the Picker Institute Europe has enabled adult surveying for several years now. Surveying the 25% of our patients who are children is less tried and tested, and could easily be put in the ‘too difficult box’. This is not necessary, as a new survey has been launched by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), specifically for use in Urgent and Emergency Care (U&EC) Settings.1 U&EC includes EDs, Walk-in/Urgent Care centres, GP surgeries and the ambulance service.

Surveys are one form of patient related experience measures. The views of children and young people under 16 have been given little weight within the National Health Service (NHS): of 38 national surveys, only one sought the views of those under 16 years.2 The …