Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) for urgent and emergency care

PREMs for urgent and emergency care is a tool developed by the RCPCH to measure the experience of paediatric patients in GP practices, out-of-hours centres, A&E departments and the ambulance service.

Why do we need the PREM?

Currently children make up 26% of patients receiving urgent and emergency care. There is very little published information for measuring the paediatric patient experience even though children of eight years and above can reliably self-report regarding their health. The tool is developed to improve the domains and areas important to patients within the urgent and emergency care setting.

How was the PREM developed?

The survey was developed using a five-stage process that included focus groups to gain the opinions of the consumer (i.e. children and young people).

Literature review  → Qualitative stage (focus groups) → Questionnaire design → 

Questionnaire cognitive testing →   Pilotf\dPPPilot survey

The survey was then piloted in 12 sites across England including:

• three emergency departments
• five out-of-hours settings
• two GP surgeries
• two ambulance services.

The final product consisted of three slightly different surveys that were tailored to each setting:

• a survey for 0-7 years to be completed by the parent/carer, with the childs input where possible
• a survey for 8-16 year olds to be completed by the child.

The final report will supplement the surveys by providing key recommendations about how to use the survey effectively, to monitor paediatric patient satisfaction. 

Contact us

Research coordinator: 020 7092 6169

Research administrator: 020 7092 6165