On the ninth day of Christmas

For Day 9, I've been inspired by the impact of this story.

Integrating care across 200 miles of sea

"Going for a review and having more tests is very frightening because of the natural fear that those tests will reveal malignancy. Staff at the Breast Clinic in Aberdeen are just superb – reassuring and professional. But on leaving the clinic, it can feel that Shetland patients fall into a sort of ‘black hole’ of uncertainty. That’s certainly how I feel right now."

Response

"I wanted to take this opportunity to apologise that we did not explain what would happen next after you had your tests and also to thank you for providing the feedback. It has prompted a real change in the way we communicate with patients across services and made us think about other patient pathways."

You can read this story on Patient Opinion

What this story means to me

When I read this story, I completely empathised with the author: a woman left with no information about what happens next. That could be me. I really identified with the anxiety and frustration the story conveys.

We have a vision for Patient Opinion: connecting patients and staff to make things better. It’s what drives us - drives me. When it happens, when there’s a light bulb moment, when people listen to one another and work together without defensiveness or fear, when things change for the better, it’s amazing to witness vision becoming reality. It’s like Christmas!

This is the kind of story which keeps me going and reminds me, when things are hard, of all our potential. Thank you “North Ness”, Kathleen and Linda.

Wishing the peace and joy of the season to you all.

Gina

If you tweet this, please use hashtag #poChristmas. Thank you!