Patient Experience - WMTY

The International ‘What Matters to You Day’ (WMTY) is Tuesday, June 6th. Not only this day in June but every day, these four powerful words “What Matters to You” aim to encourage and support more meaningful conversations between people who provide health and social care for the people, families and those who receive health and social care.

Asking “What matters to you?” is about listening and understanding what really matters to people, including, patients, residents, service users, family members and colleagues. WMTY conversations empower people to be involved in decisions about their own health and care, greatly improving their outcomes. Small conversations every day create the biggest change and can have a positive impact on patients’ lives and outcomes.

This is a simple, yet profound concept that is key to creating deeply personal engagements with patients and their family members, a deeper understanding of what really matters to them, and is the foundation of developing genuine partnerships for


co-creating health

The underlying principle, - Ask, listen, do - what matters is intended to shift the power to the person who knows best about the help or support they need, whether it be a person with a medical issue or the clinicians or staff providing care. WMTY conversations help healthcare teams understand what is “most important” to patients, leading to better care partnerships and improved patient experience.

While the question is often asked in many different ways, the importance remains the same. We want to impact our patients, visitors, and coworkers in a way that is significant to them. Doing so not only fulfills a need within ourselves, but it also gives us the means to truly address what is important from their perspective. For example, while I may want to get an order for pain medication because I can visibly see my patient is in distress, she may actually want a warm blanket, the blinds shut, and the lights dimmed. Asking the patient “What Matters to You” would have given me this information, the opportunity to do exactly what the patient needs, and more efficiently get to an endpoint of the patient feeling better. The grandeur of asking this question yields impactful results that are significant to our patients.

Watch for “What Matters to You” signage and information around our campuses.