Patient Opinion has now reached 31,000 published stories.

We are getting ready for the big switch over to our new site here at Patient Opinion HQ. Want to see a screenshot of what our front page look like? Well here it is...

Today a damming report was issued by the NHS Ombudsman in which it pulled no punches in its opinion of the standards of NHS care for the elderly. The report outlined 10 particular cases where it said that the complaints it received were "harrowing" and the ultimate conclusion was that many of the elderly were denied the "most basic" of human needs. Ms Abraham, the reports publisher, warned that these were not simply isolated one off cases and that the NHS required a deep reform of its attitudes regarding the care of the elderly. Should you wish to view the full report is available here:>>>>

Part of this reform, in her opinion was the requirement for a more consistent approach to complaints handling. She was critical of the fact that it required great tenacity to see a complaint either through the system, or ultimately to the Ombudsmen. The first stage of any complaint is generally channelled through the local health trust or the GP practice.  She acknowledged that this often leads to a dead end and that many simply gave up on their complaint. "it's just so extraordinary when you think of so many organisations who would think that that kind of feedback was gold dust when it comes to improving their services." She often heard complainants who simply said "It's not worth speaking up, nothing ever changes"

At Patient Opinion we are all aware that the more independent opinion is deemed to be - the more valuable (and more likely it is to be taken seriously) it is to all concerned. Earlier today in a routine check on our web statistics I noticed a particular visit from a NHS trust using the search string "XXXX (the name of the hospital) complaints". Being somewhat curious I followed the link from the web tracker and saw exactly what pages were being visited. The hospital representative was of course checking out stories of their own hospital on the Patient Opinion site. It would be correct to say that of the stories posted on our site not all were complimentary. In fact, more than 50% of the most recent stories were all concerns that were critical. I decided to follow through and visit the hospitals own site and took a glance at the feedback / stories page. The trust painted a very rosy picture with not one of the stories critical - yet switch to our site and you saw a very different view from the patients and users of the services at this hospital.

Now I suppose it would be somewhat odd for hospitals and trusts to allow the posting of critical stories on their own website, perhaps a bit like a turkey voting for Xmas! Then of course one would wonder if patients and relatives would be reluctant and wary of posting negative experiences direct on a trust or hospital website, according to Ms Abrahams they probably wouldn't consider it worthwhile! That is where services like Patient Opinions' or even NHS Choices, to a lesser extent, come into their own as it encourages people to leave feedback anonymously with no interaction with the hospital required.

Now the purpose here is to not necessarily play on negatives, in fact a large majority of stories on Patient Opinion are indeed "thankyou" and "well dones", it is important for the health service to know when it is performing well, just as much as when it isn't. However to gain a true and rounded view of a hospital one does need to escape from the official line and here is of course the value of independently categorised feedback and opinion.

Perhaps Ms Abraham might like to give us a call!

Prime Minister David Cameron will today make a major speech on the future of healthcare in the United Kingdom in which he will suggest that the NHS must reform or the country as a whole will suffer. The Coalition have announced a radical shakeup of healthcare within the UK and have pledged increased health budgets, at a time when most departments face a cut, to enable these reforms to be put into practice.

"We have fallen behind the rest of Europe. We are more likely to die of cancer or heart disease. We shouldn't be aiming for second best."  Claiming that the UK has fallen behind other European nations in terms of standards and achievements the PM asserts that the NHS currently has little incentive to improve and that the new reforms will do more than simply re-badge the service, which was a feature of the last administration.

He has also dismissed claims that the reforms are too much, too soon suggesting that there is an appetite for reform within the medical profession.

Later this week ministers will publish legislation to changes the health service. Within this there are plans to scrap PCT's (Primary Care Trusts) and health authorities and that power over decisions and financial control will be handed to GP consortiums. The Government will present the Bill as a milestone in its reform agenda, but some experts have cast doubt that doctors' will be willing or able to take on new responsibilities. Mr Cameron counters however by saying that 141 GP consortiums – covering half of the country – have now volunteered to pilot the reforms.

Later in the year, the Government will publish a White Paper on yet more reforms calling for an injection of third party expertise outlining ambitious plans for charities, private companies and community groups to fund, run and in some cases even own some public services. The move is designed to break up the public sector's traditional monopoly on running services, new rules will dictate that in future a fixed proportion of services must be provided by "non-state providers". All of this harks back to Mr Cameron's "Big Society" concept. A concept that calls upon individuals and communities take more responsibility requiring the state to do less.

Patient Opinion have been at the forefront of this type of concept for the last five years - Patient Opinion is a not for profit Social Enterprise and our ethos is all about enabling patients to share their experiences of health care, and by doing so help other patients, and perhaps even change the NHS. Since our launch in 2005 we have received and collated over 45,000 patient stories and as a result of this have enabled subscribing bodies to receive feedback on their services. Some might say that we were already ahead of the government on the need for supporting the NHS from outside the state sector! To learn more about us click here

Today we officially launch our mental health platform. Of course, people have been sharing stories about mental health services for a long time following our pilot in the 5 Boroughs Partnership back in 2007.

We're hoping lots of people hear about what we're doing and share their story. Jason, who's just joined the Patient Opinion team, is an ex service user and volunteer at primary care addiction services in Sheffield and has an inspiring story to tell about how the independence and honesty of Patient Opinion was crucial in bringing about change in addiction services. Even we're impressed listening to him! We captured him on video and the Society Guardian went one better and put his face on page 3 yesterday. E-health insider ran a story this morning and we know many regional and local papers and radio stations are picking up on the launch today. Phil Hope, Care Services Minister offered his support saying "This partnership means every single Trust in the country can see what they are doing well and what needs to be improved, helping to drive up quality."

Through the course of this year, we've been travelling the length and breadth of England talking to staff and users about what this will mean, how we're doing everything we can to keep the system safe (on both sides) and how the system will lead to real service improvement. It was important to us that we equipped staff with the understanding and skill to communicate directly and honestly with service users, their families and carers through the website . Much more importantly, we wanted to be sure that they knew how to take the comments, suggestions and concerns they would hear and do something meaningful with them. After all, that's what we're all about - making people's experiences count. According to Maria, Head of Service at the 5 Boroughs Partnership during our pilot, the stories she received through Patient Opinion 'made issues real' and gave her the opportunity to 'facilitate some real reflection among staff'. And we have lots of examples, across mental health and acute care, where trusts have demonstrated through their responses on the site that they're truly listening and taking value from peoples stories.

From past experience we know just how honest, passionate and thoughtful people can be on Patient Opinion. We also know that sharing their stories on the site can lead to real improvements in services. What we don't know is what you think of your local mental health services so please share your story and make a difference.