Guest post: Working with online feedback - it's not rocket science

 Philip Dylak, Director Nursing at Tameside Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, spoke about his practical experience of working with Patient Opinion at our recent stakeholder event. In this guest blog post, he sums up the key themes.

Tameside Hospital's involvement with Patient Opinion goes back a number of years, originally to a region-wide initiative to encourage trusts across the North West to make use of online feedback. At the time, Tameside Hospital was getting some adverse press coverage, and we wondered whether online comments from patients and carers would make matters better - or worse?

It soon became clear that it would be up to us. Early on, we took the strategic view that if someone places a comment about our services in the public domain, on Patient Opinion, then they expect and deserve a response from the organisation. We've followed that approach ever since, with the support of the executive team, and we're absolutely sure we were right to do so.

In fact, I'm proud that in the latest Dr Foster hospital guide, Tameside Hospital was in the top 5 hospitals responding to patient comments online.

There seems to be an attitude of anxiety or indifference to online feedback in parts of the NHS, but we've found that by following some simple principles, it isn't hard to create constructive public exchanges with our patients. So here are my top tips for working with online feedback:

• No stock responses. Unless you are certain it is appropriate, don’t use phrases like "Please contact our complaints department or PALS". After all, if people can access Patient Opinion's website, they can access your own website, and post comments to PALS or complaints for themselves.
• Make the response personal. It's the right thing to do – online communications don’t have to be cold and functional, and a personal response will encourage more people to post.
• Deal with the issues. Don’t give a bland response. If someone praises staff, tell them you will bring it to staff’s attention – and make sure you do. If someone refers to a current problem, such as a service disrupted by building works, don’t be coy – acknowledge it. Your response will inform other people too.
• Say what you will do. Or better still, say what you have already done.
• Timing is all. Respond within 2 days. This may allay anxieties for other people who may have the same issues. We keep an ongoing log – no posting is on for more than a week without a response.
• Use the data. There are tools built into Patient Opinion, or you can pull the data into your own systems. Use stories in training sessions about communications or service improvement, to be sure you know what your service users think about your services, to offset unjustified criticism, and as part of your Trust’s overall understanding of user perceptions.
• Actively engage online. We piggy-back messages onto our responses, for example about our improvement activities. The team at Patient Opinion will give you more tips and help you get the most from it, if you ask.

So that's it - it isn't rocket science, and it isn't as much work as you might imagine. As a director of nursing, I'm one of the busiest people on the planet. If I can do it, so can you.

Philip Dylak.

Slides of Philip's presentation