Are you a marathon runner or a sprinter?

Dean Fathers really made me think the other day. Not only is Dean Chair of Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust and Visiting Professor at Cass Business School, he also comes from a non-NHS background and always has interesting things to say. He pointed out that the NHS was very good at sprinting and being pace setters: Cometh a new initiative, cometh the 'pilots' and 'pathfinders' and 'beacons' keen to show they are doing the business. And they often do really great work. But as Dean said, real change is about much more than sprinting, necessary as that sometimes is. More like being a marathon runner - a long, enduring, race that can still be fun and is certainly full of achievement but is never over quickly.

The gains from being a sprinter often have little to do with the core activity being promoted and much more about glitz, and kudos and brownie points. Sweet stuff, easily swallowed, done in a minute. Like all confections people can quickly feel sick, dissatisfied, as if nothing of much nutritional value has been consumed. And since change does take time, sprinters often give up long before there is much real change to show for their efforts.

I guess right now that lots of people across the NHS feel like marathon runners in a compulsory, never-ending race of Move the Deckchairs. But even though this reform-driven turmoil may feel particularly pointless, at Patient Opinion we recognise the truth of Dean' remarks. If we want to really get somewhere different with patient engagement then its going to take time. As it happens Dean's own trust, Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust is one of the most extensive users of Patient Opinion (and happy to talk to people interested in what they have learnt). This too did not happen overnight. But 2 years in they now have 124 people on the system and have made 36 changes as a result of feedback.

So if it feels like a marathon don’t give up. Here at Patient Opinion it can certainly feel like that. After all it's 7 years since I founded Patient Opinion which in my book definitely isn't a sprint. We've achieved a lot, much of it with your help. But there's still a lot to do. So just pass the water bottle, keep going and wait for the endorphins to kick in. We'll get there in the end.