Annual Review of stories on Care Opinion about NHS Boards in Scotland 2020/21

We are delighted to share with you our Annual Review of Stories told on Care Opinion about NHS Boards in Scotland during 2020/21, which you can access and download by following this link: Care Opinion Scotland Annual Review 2020/21 or by clicking on the picture below...

Our theme for this Annual Review is "Communication, Connectivity & Relationships". Here is a little taster of some of the information contained in the report about all of the stories shared across Scotland regarding NHS Boards:

At the start of 2020/21 (funny enough, when I started with Care Opinion) as the pandemic hit, we did see a reduction in the numbers of stories that people shared across Scotland. However, this trend did not last for long! Month by month, we saw increases in the number of stories being shared, to the point whereby in the last month of 2020/21, we actually saw a 20% increase in the number of stories, as compared to the same time the year before.

 Like the rest of the world, we have had to adapt and change our working practice, to enable us to effectively support our subscribers. We have innovated and worked on new ways for people to share their stories, and like the theme of this review suggests we have modified the way we communicate, found the best ways to stay connected and worked hard to develop and cement our relationships with our subscribers.

Even through these tough times, we have been hugely impressed by the dedication of our subscribers, and the importance they have placed on continuing to encourage feedback across healthcare services in Scotland. Although we have not been able to meet in person, in 2020/21 we have been able to spend even more time with each of our subscribers than ever before, through the wonders of technology!

Working with our subscribers we have designed and delivered bespoke training and new materials, and developed, tested and launched new and exciting functionality on Care Opinion. All to make it easier and safer for people to tell their stories and for subscribers to be able to better respond, learn and change from the feedback.

2020/21 also saw the first online Care Opinion Scotland conference that was well attended by people as far away as Canada, Australia and the USA, where we were able to share some of the great work that is going on in research, policy and service provision in patient feedback and the uses of Care Opinion. In 2021/22 we are looking forward to hosting our second online conference.

This last year also saw the launch of our Research and Care Opinion chats. At these short online events we have been inviting speakers to talk about all things patient feedback from various service and research areas. This has given all those interested in online patient feedback the opportunity to share learning and practice from around UK and further afield. 

So although the past year has been a challenge, working hard with our subscribers we have achieved a great deal in ensuring that patients, their families and carers have a platform to share their experiences in what has been a time of immense change and uncertainty. On that note, I thought I’d end with a quote from an author:

“May I tell new people this site is tremendous, it reaches the people you wouldn’t normally manage to contact, I have used this (Care Opinion) before, and the responses from my local hospital was successful, its good to have such a supportive site”