The Ten Commandments of Customer Service

The UK Government′s White Paper on the National Health Service, 1989, defined a programme of action aimed at achieving two objectives: give patients, wherever they live, better health care and greater choice of the services available; and produce greater satisfaction and rewards for NHS staff who successfully respond to local needs and preferences. The Paper defines seven key measures, each designed to make its own vital contribution to those objectives. One of these was the introduction of self‐governing hospital trusts, and one of the primary concerns of the Boards of Directors set up to run each of the new Trusts will be the development of a clear customer service strategy; one which combines clinical excellence with the highest standards of customer care. The customer care element of that strategy must combine the best of tried and tested management and organisation theory, with common sense, realism and pragmatism.