Proud to be serving patients and staff in Scotland

Back in 2014 I blogged about how the NHS in Scotland was embracing the new and transparent approach to patient feedback taken by Patient Opinion (as we then were).

Fast forward to 2018, and I am pleased and proud to say that on 1 April we began our second national contract to provide Care Opinion across NHS Scotland, for the next two to four years, following a competitive tender process.

The whole Care Opinion team is excited to be continuing this work with the support of the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland. Our commitment is that we will continue to innovate as vigorously as we can, for the benefit of both the patients and staff of the NHS.

This platform has become a valued part of the landscape

We are grateful for the very heartening support and energy of those working alongside us to support the development of online feedback in health and care, using Care Opinion. Here I will highlight just a few among many:

Andrew Murray, medical director at NHS Forth Valley, said: “I honestly believe Care Opinion is the one feedback system that offers potential for actual transformation of healthcare organisations. It connects the person having the experience with the team, in the most direct and human way, and that’s what makes it so powerful in enabling change.”

Ros Gray, head of quality & clinical governance at NHS Borders, said: “Using Care Opinion to generate feedback is a fundamental foundation stone of our aim to communicate effectively with all our patients and families, one of our top 5 improvement aims.”

And Irene Barkby, executive director of nurses, midwives and AHPs at NHS Lanarkshire, said: “This platform has become a valued part of the landscape for NHS Lanarkshire staff and the people we serve; it now accounts for around 25% of all unsolicited feedback received. It represents the culture of openness and transparency that we aspire to. The recent development of picture stories to provide feedback helps to bridge an equalities gap. Care Opinion has transferred the balance of power to the people and families accessing our services and has enabled staff to reflect and learn without fear of blame or judgement.”

I felt as though someone was listening and I was not alone in my pain

Many patients have told us what they appreciate about Care Opinion through our recent survey of story authors. For example:

• “I think it's a great way to provide feedback in an open and transparent way. I loved that I got a really fast response, even though I didn't really expect it.”

• “I felt that it gave me more of a voice that would be heard because it would be published and not just read by one or two members of staff in a complaints/feedback team. 30 members of staff have read it and I think that's great.”

• “I had nowhere else to tell my story. Really didn't expect a response but I did get one. That response was uplifting and felt as though someone was listening and I was not alone in my pain.”

But don’t think we are complacent. We know we have much more to do to make a real difference at scale. Although 97% of stories in Scotland receive a response from staff, we can and must do more. Claire Gilroy, specialty doctor in emergency medicine at University Hospital Crosshouse, points out: “At present only 3% of stories on Care Opinion lead to change. The best way to improve this is to have more frontline staff responding.”

We need to know more about the impacts that open online feedback creates across the health system, what the obstacles might be, and what we can do to make Care Opinion more helpful. So it is exciting to hear that the Health Services Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen will soon be starting a research project with NHS Grampian to understand more about how Care Opinion is working and how staff respond to comments.

Alongside our work with health services, we hope to increase the number of social care services in Scotland getting impact from public online feedback. One part of this work is to connect with many more health and social care partnerships across Scotland.

Jason Leitch, national clinical director of healthcare quality and strategy, for the Scottish Government, has recently blogged about Scotland’s unique approach to quality improvement in public services. I am very happy to let Jason have the last word (in this blog post, at least!):

“The use of Care Opinion is the most important single thing we’ve done around person-centred care in the last three years”.