I'm really excited to be hopping on the PO blog train on behalf of Notts Healthcare, as one of the first contributors (not the first, thanks to the oh-so efficient Ian McKenzie at Surrey and Sussex!).
I've been really looking forward to this great feature reaching the site over the last year, and should give credit (and thanks) to James at PO who I know has beavered away in his spare time to make this a reality.
So, not known to exercise an economy of words, for now I will give a brief update on the recent PO developments at the Trust (all steered by our fantastic PO lead, Jane Danforth):
- In the last couple of months, the Trust have signed off a new protocol which commits us to responding to every story within 2 working days. This is nothing short of what we should be doing, and nothing short of what people should be able to expect when they take the time to share their story with us. The protocol also insists on two responders in every service area. For us, this is absolutely crucial - for feedback to have a real impact, it must reach staff in the right places.
- To make sure we're living up to this promise, we now have measures (built into the way we report on quality in the Trust) which will record whether this is happening. Our services will be held to account on this, which demonstrates our absolute commitment to PO.
- Jane is running two training sessions, supported by Ben from PO, on Wednesday 11th December. We have had so many people request a place, we are running a waiting list!
- We now have 466 members of staff subscribed to PO. We're very proud of this because it shows that feedback flows openly through our Trust and that our staff, at every level, want to hear people's stories.
- Health Partnerships, our community services division, are absolutely steaming ahead, adding more staff to PO every day and under the expert guidance of Sue Dyke they are now up to 232 stories alone! They only really began using PO a year and a half ago, so this is a huge achievement.
- Finally, though there is plenty more to say, we are receiving stories from new areas of our Trust. HMP Lindholme, following in the footsteps of HMP Stocken earlier in the year, are now sharing stories on PO (like this one). Fantastic ey?
Ok, admittedly brevity isn't my strong suit, I fear I may be banned from the blog before I've even begun!
One last quickie - any chance PO could think about a 'Proudly working in partnership with Patient Opinion' plaque for our reception? We'd love it!
What we're up to behind the scenes!
What we're up to behind the scenes! https://patientopinion.blob.core.windows.net/profile-pictures/47199f4c-223c-4907-b798-4fb9234f8a71.jpeg Care Opinion 0114 281 6256 https://www.careopinion.org.uk /content/uk/images/logos/co-header-logo-2020-default.pngUpdate from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Posted by Amy Gaskin-Williams, Service User and Carer Involvement and Experience Manager, Involvement Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, on
About: Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Response from Jane Danforth, Involvement & Experience Officer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust on 12 Dec 2013 at 21:05
I echo everything Amy said about the fantastic efforts of our PO subscribers who are really starting to own their own feedback.
For Nott's Healthcare, the key success of real time feedback is for staff to respond quickly and acknowledge the efforts that go into leaving feedback.
Saying thank you for all feedback and saying sorry when things have not gone well is vital. Being open is the only way forward.
So... thank you to our amazing service users, carers, families, friends, staff and volunteers who help us make changes together.
Just to let you all know, the workshops went well. More planned for 2014! I'm signing off now and looking forward to our staff and volunteer subscribers being part of this blog, come on people, be brave, there are loads of you out there!
Response from Derby Fan on 14 Dec 2013 at 11:16
Dear Amy and Jane
The work that you have done on Patient Opinion is first class.
What does bother me is that I never see or hear of the impact that someof the posts have on Senior Management or any decisions or actions taken at that level to resolve or react to some of the serious failings to patients or to the very successful outcomes for patients by the good work of staff and so the Trust.
I would like to see some bigger outcomes for really excellent good work by staff, department and Trust services and good resourcing.than a mere we will tell them.
Likewise repercussions for really bad outcomes due to poor work by staff, departments or due to overall poor provision of resources by the Trust rather than a give us a call and we will discuss or just plain no comment or platitudes.
Michael Osborne.
Response from Jane Danforth, Involvement & Experience Officer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust on 17 Dec 2013 at 21:21
Dear Michael
Thank you for your kind words about our work.
Senior management really do take notice of what is being said and the patient voice in the board room has never been stronger or louder and is a regular feature that looks at the improvements needed as well as the good work going on. The outcomes and 81 changes made so far due to Patient Opinion really do reach into the Trust at all levels. The Trust have supported us to have the courage to stand up and be counted and the support of 500 staff members (and growing rapidly) signed up to Patient Opinion has really started to impact on the accountability of the work we do and as you know our new feedback website in our Trust is visible for the public to see. Good and bad!
Luckily we don't have postings where staff don't comment as it's our policy to make sure we reply meaningfully. I'm sorry if you feel you don't hear about this and welcome suggestions for improvements. When we say we will tell staff we pass on postings directly and you often see staff coming back on the site to reply and sometimes you will see multiple conversations in response.
In future more staff will be replying directly and in many other Trusts postings are seen by just a few people so in Nottingham we are leading the way for participation on the site and continually striving to make it better. We have almost 400.000 viewings so far!
Last week 54 new staff attended a PO workshop and learnt how to reply and set up alerts to receive postings directly and this week we can see the impact with more postings on the site. Our quality and governance colleagues are monitoring the stories on the site and the CCG groups also look at the postings to inform their decision making processes.
The latest posting about Rampton Hospital highlights direct action from listening to patients about the admission process. This is a new venture for the high secure environment and one staff, patients and carers have embraced willingly. As part of our feedback challenge we visit patients on the wards at Rampton and ask them to help us improve services.
Tomorrow we are going onto the wards at Highbury Hospital to listen to patients and carers about their experiences so you may want to look out for a new wave of postings soon after!
Please let me know what else you think. As for reporting bigger outcomes Forensic services are hoping to use this medium to do just that, just keep an eye on the' changes made' button in future
However, we do have some wonderful things to celebrate as well as lots to improve and we can only do this together. I will pass this blog posting on to senior management as I know they will be interested to read what you say.
Best Wishes
Jane