International Patient Experience Standard
The world’s first international standard for patient experience in healthcare. Global best practice in clinical excellence, compassion and patient partnership, codified into a definitive framework.
Independently certified by BSI
Clinical Excellence Alone Is Not Enough. Patients Deserve More.
The International Patient Experience Standard (IPEXS) is the world’s first comprehensive framework designed specifically for healthcare organisations seeking to deliver exceptional patient experiences. It recognises that clinical excellence alone is not enough: patients deserve care that is compassionate, coordinated, transparent, safe and centred around their needs.
IPEXS bridges the gap between clinical governance and experience management, giving healthcare organisations a structured, measurable framework that encompasses the entire patient journey, from first contact through treatment to aftercare and beyond.
Twelve pillars of patient experience excellence in the PX-DNA framework, independently certified by BSI, from a family of standards used in 40+ countries.
Twelve Pillars. One Patient Experience.
Vision, dignity, voice, evidence, culture, equity, communication, innovation, safety, learning, journey continuity and access: the architecture of IPEXS:01.
Vision & Integrity
Clear, accountable PX governance, owned at executive, clinical and operational levels.
Governance determines whether patient experience is protected or vulnerable. This pillar examines whether PX ownership is clearly defined and documented, whether leadership prioritises it visibly, and whether escalation, decision-making and performance frameworks consistently treat the patient’s experience as a board-accountable outcome rather than an aspiration.
Respect & Compassion
Dignity, emotional sensitivity and human connection throughout the care journey.
Compassion is a core clinical behaviour, not a discretionary attitude. This pillar evaluates whether patients consistently experience care as humane, dignified and emotionally safe across every interaction, and whether the organisation treats lapses in tone or emotional harm as opportunities to learn rather than something to defend.
Voice & Partnership
Patients recognised as genuine partners in decisions about their care.
The patient is the most underused expert in their own care. This pillar assesses whether patients are actively involved through shared clarity, dialogue, real options and informed consent, and whether that partnership is genuine and systematic rather than a formality or a signature on a form.
Insights & Evidence
Patient insight that directs decisions and resources, not just informs discussion.
Evidence that does not change practice is just storage. This pillar evaluates the breadth and quality of patient experience data (metrics, narratives, complaint themes and safety signals) and, crucially, whether that insight actually determines decisions, prioritisation and accountability.
People & Culture
A culture set by leadership behaviour, sustaining the workforce that delivers care.
Patient experience is delivered by people within a culture, and culture is demonstrated through what leaders do, not what they say. This pillar examines whether leaders model the behaviours that set cultural standards, whether staff are capable, confident and psychologically safe, and whether the organisation invests in the workforce on which every other pillar depends.
Fairness & Belonging
Equal behavioural treatment for every patient, regardless of identity or circumstance.
Patient experience excellence is incompatible with inequitable care. This pillar assesses whether all patients receive fair, dignified treatment regardless of identity, background, status, language, disability or perceived difficulty, and whether the organisation actively identifies, measures and reduces disparities for its most vulnerable groups.
Clarity & Trust
Communication that lets patients understand what is happening, why, and what comes next.
Trust is built or lost in the moments of communication. This pillar evaluates whether information enables patients to follow their care journey without confusion, whether communication stays honest during difficult moments, and whether the organisation reliably does what it tells patients it will do.
Innovation & Inclusion
Innovation that solves real, evidenced problems, and includes everyone it affects.
Innovation is meaningful only when it solves real problems and includes the people it impacts. This pillar examines whether new approaches, including digital and AI-enabled care, address needs identified by patients, staff and evidence, and whether they are introduced without widening access gaps or compromising the dignity of patients least able to navigate change.
Space & Safety
Physical, emotional, procedural and environmental safety that protects dignity.
The environment of care is part of the experience. This pillar assesses whether physical spaces support privacy, dignity and safe emotional space, not just clinical delivery, alongside accessibility, infection control, and the procedural and psychological safety of patients and staff alike.
Learning & Excellence
Patient experience treated as a structured learning system, not an occasional topic.
Excellence is sustained through learning, not declared through compliance. This pillar evaluates whether the organisation runs patient experience as a structured learning system (formal review cycles, clear ownership and tracked actions), integrating learning from incidents and near-misses, openness to external benchmarking, and a visible discipline of continuous improvement.
Connection & Journey
A patient journey connected end-to-end, across services, transitions and time.
Patients experience a journey, not a series of departments. This pillar examines whether care is connected end-to-end, across primary, secondary and community settings, across digital and physical channels, and across the handoffs and transitions where experience is most often lost.
Access & Efficiency
Predictable, equitable access with clear routes that respect patients’ time and energy.
Access is a precondition of every other dimension of experience. This pillar assesses whether access is predictable and reachable, with clear routes to start, continue and complete each stage of care: waiting times, pathway efficiency, equity across populations and geographies, and the administrative friction borne by patients and carers.
The Building Blocks of Exceptional Patient Experience.
The PX-DNA Framework identifies the fundamental building blocks, the “DNA”, of exceptional patient experience: twelve interconnected sections that together define what healthcare excellence looks like from the patient’s perspective.
The 12 Pillars are independent disciplines but inextricably interdependent: a failure in any one (fairness, safety, communication, governance) compromises the integrity of the whole. The Standard applies the QERE methodology (Question · Explanation · Reasoning · Evidence) to assess organisational maturity across all twelve, with independent certification by BSI.
Five Steps to Certification. Then Transform.
Five steps to achieving IPEXS certification.
- Assess
Evaluate your PX maturity using the Experience Excellence Index.
- Implement
Apply the IPEXS PX-DNA Framework across your organisation.
- Measure
Track progress through structured patient experience criteria.
- Certify
Achieve formal certification to IPEXS.
- Transform
Build a culture of continuous patient experience improvement.
Begin with the Standard. Or Measure Where You Stand.
Select either the Standard or our Online Assessment, depending on where you are in your experience journey.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, please contact your country partner to purchase this standard.
Make Patient Experience Your Standard.
Buy the standard to implement it in your organisation, or take the Online Assessment to measure where you stand today.