Independent report on Care Opinion from specialist cancer charities group

In late 2023 a group of UK cancer charities, the Specialist Cancer Charity Group (SCCG), commissioned an independent report on Care Opinion. The purpose was to describe how open, online patient feedback via Care Opinion might be helpful to improving cancer care.

SCCG commissioned Pennie Taylor, a respected health journalist, to compile a report based on interviews with a range of stakeholders, and with a focus on cancer care in Scotland. Since 2014, Care Opinion has been funded by the Scottish Government to provide an online feedback service for all health boards and a number of national NHS bodies, with the result that online feedback is an increasingly familiar feature of the Scottish healthcare system.

The report was published in January 2024 and SCCG has kindly given permission for Care Opinion to share this report more widely.

The report is valuable for its independence and clarity, but especially because it shares diverse perspectives on Care Opinion from multiple levels in the Scottish NHS.

Patient feedback is often seen as something simply for patient experience or complaints staff to process, so it is encouraging to see how an open, online approach to feedback can serve the needs of multiple stakeholders within (and even outside) a large and complex public service.

The report can be downloaded (PDF) from the link below. I hope you will find it informative and stimulating.

sccg-care-opinion-report-jan-2024.pdf

Of course, we continue to develop our service every day - so perhaps by the time you have read the report we will have grown the reach and impact of Care Opinion, gained further insight from research, and learned even more from patients and carers about the quality and safety of the services we all rely on.

If you have any comments or questions about the report, please feel free to post responses here or via our social media accounts.