Top Tips on integrating Care Opinion

I’m Sharon Kidd and I’m the Patient Experience Manager at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. I have read nearly two thousand Care Opinion stories and posted almost 800 responses. I work to developing ways to engage more patients and spread the word of Care Opinion not just in our Trust, but across the NHS. Here are my top tips on integrating your CO subscription:

Sharing is Caring!

Sharing stories with staff is a major part of implementing Care Opinion here at ULHT. The stories we get are real experiences, and are great examples of what staff are doing right. We have a staff only private Facebook group we put stories in and the staff love it. They get a real understanding of what’s happening across the trust- not just in their own service. Implementing Care Opinion across all services allows us to gather feedback from services that got little to no feedback before, it motivates staff and encourages them to get more feedback. Again, sharing it directly with staff has had a real positive effect and boosts morale. It encourages further patient-staff engagement, and further raises both the profile and impact of patient feedback. Each story is a stone in the pond, and the rippling effect is vast.

Listen, learn, React

Setting up staff as subscribers is the perfect way to get people across different services listening. Developing use of the site puts staff at ease when responding further down the line Reading and listening to feedback gives staff a sense of ownership. Feedback reflects the care they give to their patients. Adding staff onto the site allows them to act on that feedback, to do something with it. It creates a culture shift. It’s not just feedback about the hospital, its feedback about the people. We want patients to know that we are all listening to and doing something with their feedback- whether the feedback is both positive and negative. And of course, when stories are positive it gives everyone that warm fuzzy feeling.

                                        

Share, like and Retweet!

Sharing feedback on social media is a great way to demonstrate transparency within the service, and show patients that you are listening.  Not being afraid to tweet negative feedback illustrates to patients that we are taking their story seriously, and not shying away. Its puts feedback at the forefront of the organisation, demonstrating that feedback isn’t just left dormant in a dark room, but is out in the open and being discussed by the service. Twitter is a great way to engage with patients and other services, as well as celebrating successes with staff and patients alike. Its great to see how other services are using Care Opinion, and sharing ideas gives us inspiration for how we can learn from and use the feedback we get. Raising the profile of different services across the trust, also raises the profile of patient stories.

Take it to the board

Integrating feedback at board level gives organizations a solid platform for change. Using the various tools that Care Opinion provide in the form of visualizations and reports, we are equipped with clear and accurate data to include in our monthly reports and our board reports.  The members of the board look at what patients are saying, look at services and take on board what is being said. We feel the board has really embraced feedback. Using Care Opinion provides enriched information on what is going on in the trusts, allowing us to celebrate success and act on the negatives. Additionally, taking patient feedback to board level shows staff that they are supported, and that patients are supported, encouraging more people to give us their feedback, allowing the service to constantly develop.