The Best Public Toilet in the UK?

OK - I know this probably sounds a bit strange. But stay with me, I am going somewhere with this.

I was in Portsmouth on Friday providing some consultancy for a children's centre that delivers services for children with special needs.

When I arrive at Portsmouth Harbour railway station I needed to find a toilet. I managed to make my way across the fairly rundown station area and into the recently redeveloped Gunwharf Quay with it's iconic Spinnaker Tower.

In the shopping centre I found what I was looking for - a public toilet. However, this was not an average (which in the UK is usually fairly dire) connveniene. It was clean and warm. Rather than paper towls or fans to dry your hands it had those new Dyson hand dryers that work so fast you still think your hands are wet when they are actually bone dry.

It also had a basket of cotton towels. You were invited to use one and then place it in a wahing basket. It was really trusting people not to exploit this. Looking at the pile of clean towels it seemed to be working. Also, there were two options for handwash - both highly frangranced and expensive looking.

Having finished my 'abolutions' I was walking out of the toilets when my eye caught the paper cups and mouth wash supplied on the wall by the exit. Wow, mouth wash in a public lavatory!

Since leaving Portsmouth I have remebered this experience. It has stayed in my mind. I have told other people about it. I am writing about it now. And it simply was a public toilet - something that often does not register in our day-to-day life.

I think experiences are key. They are the things that make a difference to the service we deliver. People who use services want to feel valued, individual and respect. But many of our health and social care services do not offer memorable experiences. They may get the basics right but they are exactly that - a no frills bargain basic. If you listen to the consistent messages of service users across the spectrum of issues then a repeated complaint is the failure of services to be a good experience. Is it not then surprising people do not want to use them (getting labelled as 'hard to reach' into the bargain) and that stigma develops. Or that they resent the fact that services make them wait, wasting their time, at the doctors or the job centre or at social services office.

We need to raise the standard of the experience we offer when people use our services. We need to make them memorable so that people talk about them and recommend them to others. We need to learn from the private sector who are often far better at offering their customers an positive experience. They have a bottom-line that means their customers will take their business elsewhere if they are not satisfied. What a shame that our service users do not have so much choice to go somewhere different and better.

Some of the things that can turn an experience into something memorable are not that costly. Welcoming people, listening to them, designing your waiting areas with people in mind and supplying simple refreshments. Some of the things can be symbolic - giving the message that peoples' experience matters. For example, comfortable seats and decent light.

Surely if Portsmouth can get the experience right with their toilets then surely we can do better with our services.