Enhancing Primary Care with a Retail-Inspired Gold Standard of Customer Service

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At Caja, we found resonance with the recent announcements from the Prime Minister and NHS England advocating for service reform that includes a “gold standard retail offer” aimed at enhancing patient experience. Over the years, we’ve observed that patients are not just recipients of care but also consumers of services. Whilst the NHS is free at the point of use, we all contribute indirectly through taxation, and as consumers, people increasingly expect choice, a streamlined experience, and a personalised approach.   

The Darzi Review, published in late 2024, outlined transformative recommendations, including greater choice, a shift toward more localised care, and the adoption of new technology solutions. However, at the heart of these reforms lies a critical element: the customer experience. Without a laser-like focus on this, even the most innovative changes risk falling short of what people want or expect.   

What Does the “Retail Gold Standard of Customer Service” Mean in Healthcare?   

We believe the “retail gold standard of customer service” isn’t about a single policy or action, it’s a blend of best practices designed to make every interaction a positive one. The standard will need to draw inspiration from retail excellence, where customer satisfaction is vital for competitive advantage and even survival.   

The comparison to retail is deliberate. Goodwill toward NHS services cannot be taken for granted, especially as patient satisfaction surveys have shown a steady decline in positive responses in recent years. Successful retailers understand better than anyone the power of exceptional customer experience in building trust and loyalty. By adopting similar strategies, the NHS can shift patient interactions from being purely transactional to genuinely person-centred.  

We are aware that the comparison to retail can feel contentious as healthcare serves a fundamentally different purpose. The intent is not to commercialise care, but to borrow principles that enhance trust, satisfaction, and efficiency in ways that resonate with people. For instance, brands like Amazon and John Lewis excel at instilling confidence and satisfaction with their services by anticipating customer needs, communicating transparently, and engaging in an empathetic way. These are principles healthcare can borrow to strengthen the customer experience. For example, frontline staff, such as receptionists, play a critical role in shaping how people perceive their care, fostering a sense of value and support carried throughout their journey.   Striking the right balance between efficiency and empathy can be challenging and often we find short-term convenience takes precedence. When the 8am rush hits the telephone lines, the immediate goal may be to answer and clear as many queries as possible. This may feel efficient in the moment, yet it comes at the cost of active listening. People come away from this interaction feeling unheard or undervalued, meaning they’re unlikely to develop meaningful satisfaction with the service. So, the true challenge actually lies in shifting perspectives to prioritise actions that not only meet immediate needs but also foster long-term trust and engagement.  

In our work at Caja, we’ve seen first-hand how a commitment to customer service can transform perceptions of healthcare and enhance the overall experience. For example, in our many years of working across Primary Care, we’ve often encountered a belief among staff that patients have unrealistic expectations or demands. While we can see how this view has arisen (working at the front line is tough) we believe it misses the mark. As consumers, it’s entirely reasonable for people to expect high-quality care that is reliable, efficient, and easy to access. If healthcare were paid for directly at the point of use, we would undoubtedly expect excellent value for our money. When these expectations are met, patients are more likely to feel satisfied, develop trust, and build an emotional connection to the service – just as customers do with brands they trust.   

Applying Behavioural Science to Enhance NHS Services   

The good news – Behavioural science shows us that we can successfully influence how people interact with and perceive their NHS experience. Think about your loyalty to certain supermarkets or brands, those positive experiences aren’t accidental; they’re designed in through understanding the psychology of customers.   

What makes us so confident that shifting from a patient lens to a customer lens is the right approach? The simple answer is evidence. By training staff in Primary Care to combine behavioural science principles with proven customer service techniques, we’ve already seen impressive results in improving both patient experience and service efficiency.  Here are just a few examples:   

– Fewer missed appointments.   

– Lower call abandonment rates for GP phone lines.   

– Shorter call waiting times.   

– Increased use of digital channels for tasks like ordering repeat prescriptions.   

– Greater satisfaction with a variety of appointment types.   

These improvements don’t just enhance patient experience—they also deliver significant cost savings. For instance, reducing missed appointments alone can save a practice an estimated £60,000–£100,000 annually.   

 Why Does This Approach Work?   

The “patient lens” has cast service users as passive recipients of care. By contrast, a “consumer lens” acknowledges their active role in shaping their healthcare journey. This shift encourages blending wants (convenience and speed) and needs (appropriate clinical care), which enables services to positively guide behaviours, ensuring satisfaction and better individual choices when deciding where and how to access support. Simply viewing patients as customers isn’t enough; to deliver truly gold-standard customer service, you need to understand your customers: Who are they? What do they want? When do they want it? And, most importantly, how do they behave?   

This is where behavioural science comes into play. At Caja, we blend traditional customer service techniques—like empathy, active listening, and rapport building with proven methods from behavioural science. For example, setting the right defaults to guide choices, highlighting social norms to encourage desired behaviours, using trusted messengers to deliver impactful messages.   

It’s not just about what you say or how you say it, it’s the combination of both that creates lasting success.   

If you would like to learn more about how behavioural science can be leveraged to address Primary Care access challenges, then check out our white paper 

If you want to find out more about our work and how Caja can help deliver the retail gold standard of customer service, please get in touch at admin@cajagroup.com or call us on 01782 443020.