How patients helped improve the NHS water jug

This guest blog post is written by Andy Jones.

I’m Andy Jones, past chair of the Hospital Caterers Association, and a strong believer in the important of feedback to drive improvement. The story of the humble NHS water jug provides a good example of the importance of listening to patients.

For years, we’d been hearing grumbles about the standard NHS water jug, like the lids not fitting. NHS Supplies had heard a few complaints too. So I went onto Patient Opinion and searched for water jug, to see what patients were saying.

There were plenty of issues: the full water jug was too heavy for many patients to lift; it was hard to use the handle with a cannula in your hand; the water was too warm if changed only twice a day; the jug became cloudy after washing, so patients didn’t feel the water was fresh. And yes, the lids fell off.

So I sat down with Caroline Lecko of NHS England, and Sam Lee at NHS Supply Chain, and we decided to design a new jug. We made sure both patients and staff were involved at every step.

Patients said make the jug smaller, easier to lift and easier to pour. Change the handle. And staff said: add a measuring scale, and fix the lid. We tested some new versions in a few hospitals, and after the fourth version we felt we’d got it right. Our new design went into production in 2014 and you can see it on the NHS Supply Chain site.

As a bonus, the new jug was 12% cheaper than the old one.

We also designed some new water glasses to go with it, in two different designs to suit different grips.

I was in hospital myself last year and found myself using the new jug. It was easy to use, refilled more often, and looked fresh and new. And I’m pleased to say, the lid worked perfectly.