A patient improvement, perhaps (8)
I believe the answer is:
recovery
'a patient improvement' is the definition.
'recovery' can be an answer for 'improvement' (recovery is a kind of improvement). I am not certain of the 'a patient' bit.
'perhaps' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'perhaps' could be 'y' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'y' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'recover' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for recovery that I've seen before include "A return to good health" , "Retrieval or recuperation" , "Retrieval - restoration of health" , "Improvement" , "Rally" .)