The power of people's stories

“When we share our stories, we are reminded of the humanity in each other. When we take time to understand each other’s stories, we become more forgiving, more empathetic and more inclusive” Michelle Obama

As the newest member of the Care Opinion Scotland team, I have been delighted to take a look back at 2019/20 to see the impact of stories told on Care Opinion across health services in Scotland. 

In the last financial year, 4276 people shared stories of their experiences of health services in Scotland, which was an increase of almost 10% from the previous year. If we look back even further, in the past 5 years there has been an astonishing increase of almost 140%.

I have been struck by the power of people’s stories and the courage of those who write them. So, learning that over 97% of stories in 2019/20 had been responded to from one of 1400 members of staff in health boards across Scotland, shows staff are listening and recognise the positive impact these stories can have on health services.

2019/20 also saw some fantastic developments, in terms of new ways of engaging with people to tell their stories, the growth of our work across the rest of the UK and internationally and continuing research into online feedback for health services.

So I am delighted to share with you the 2019/20 Annual Review of Care Opinion across health services in Scotland.pdf

You can also watch our short infographic video, showing the highlights of 2019/20: