I ran a workshop at the recent Patient Opinion regional event. The aim of the workshop was to try and get some creative thoughts and solutions to the task of getting a good body of postings for the different services.

Here were some of the conclusions that we came to:

• There is not one simple formula for each service, its worth thinking from the start about each patient/service user journey and the way that they access their treatment and care. Have a simple strategy for each service.
• Although it’s good to make sure that people can post at any time, for example access to computers on wards and other sites, it’s also good to think about the point at which people might want to feedback. This might be because they want to say thank you or because they want to find a way to say what could be better. Its what we at Patient Opinion call the “thoughtfully passionate” moment, when motivation to feedback is high.
• Although giving information out is all very well, nothing beats some face to face enthusiasm. So whether its reception staff, volunteers or front line staff at the end of a consultation, saying how much they would like to hear the views of the person is a really good motivator.
• Thinking about resources and also what can be done in a physical space is useful. Sometimes you can do a lot without much effort or expense. Feedback corners with opinions and responses printed out from the website promote interest and buy in from people attending a treatment centre. Have leaflets available for those who want to take something away.
• Think about the people you are hoping to encourage. For example, young people are already used to doing things online. How might you guide them to the site?
• There was an acknowledgement that this is about a culture shift and therefore its important to get staff involved make sure they are aware of postings about the trust and service. Staff really start to get it, when they see the positive postings and realise that this helps the shift away from complaining and defensiveness. It was suggested that social marketing techniques will help with the spread of the use of the site. This will really be helped by the launch of the new site and the easy connection to facebook and twitter.
• We also talked about the need to be innovative and creative. PO is a great tool, but it can be used in lots of different ways. Services can invite their users to tell stories on a different theme each month-medication, listening, accessibility. Also try out feedback Fridays where each Friday users are particularly encouraged to feedback their experiences.

So we came out of the workshop with some interesting ideas to think about. Thank you to everyone at the event who took part and if anyone would like to talk about the above do let me know.

Good luck.

As we start to receive mental health postings from around the country we can look at areas that are of particular concern to service users and carers. Although for some, crisis services have been really useful and effective, for others there have been real problems getting access at the point of need. Check out these postings below, and have a look at what is on the Patient Opinion site and if you are able, contribute some feedback of your own.

• Crisis team access
• Lack of support from mental health services
• Eternally grateful to excellent crisis team

Now that we are rolling out PO for mental health it is great to see more and more people from round the country contributing postings including carers. Here is one perceptive and powerful recent posting which makes a constructive point about how things could be improved and another that takes more of an overview.

http://www.patientopinion.org.uk/opinion.aspx?opinionID=19043

http://www.patientopinion.org.uk/opinion.aspx?opinionID=8806

Just to say how pleased we are here at Patient Opinion that we have signed contracts with Capita to roll out Patient Opinion as the national website for all mental health service users, carers and patients to feedback their experiences of treatment and care.  Postings coming to Patient Opinion will be reposted onto NHS Choices and vice versa.  We will be holding regional events round the country for all mental health trusts and other stakeholders, to join the on line dialogues about how we can all improve services.  The Department of Health is expecting that ““in meeting their Next Steps obligations to consult with the public Trusts can use a range of data including feedback from sites like Patient Opinion”.  There is a real acknowledgement that this type of service user and carer feedback is key to driving up quality.

Now that we include mental health services on Patient Opinion, it is interesting to have a look at what postings are coming in and how they might be grouped together.

Let's start off with a look at feedback about psychiatrists.

Here are two postings from individuals who felt listened to:

Thank you to staff at Boston House

Treated very well and received great help at Hollins Park Hospital

and (in the interests of balance) two postings from individuals who didn’t:

Attempting to gain treatment for Mental Illness

New appointment and support needed

Interesting that for service users in these postings (and others you'll see on Patient Opinion), the focus has been on the quality of the listening and the attentiveness of the consultant.