4Ps patient friendly assessments are informal visits to workplaces to see where staff are getting it right and where there is room for improvement.

The form of the visit is flexible and depends on the workplace and its needs. Our assessors are often invited to ‘shadow' a member of staff, for example, a receptionist or A&E radiologist. They may have informal discussions with staff members. After their visit they will report back to the workplace. An informal feedback session may be scheduled at the end of their visit, but they will always give the workplace a written report.

They give departments, units and practices an opportunity to

• be informally assessed against the 4Ps Patient Friendly Accreditation criteria
• explore what the expectations of the scheme are
• raise issues of concern about patient and public involvement
• discuss the range of support mechanisms that 4Ps offer

and

• have their examples of good practice written up as case studies for our site, whether or not they decide to move to working towards accreditation.

4Ps accreditation assessments are based on evidence supplied by the workplace of patient friendly activities and on a formal visit by a team of assessors.