Patient Opinion crosses the Border!

Patient Opinion has officially arrived in Scotland! Though, with 179 stories about Scottish NHS services on the site so far – people have already been finding their way to us to talk about Scottish health services. Now it’s my job to help the Scottish NHS health services to hear what’s being said.  

My previous role was in mental health service user involvement.  It was a great privilege when people felt able to share their stories with me and amazing to witness the impact their stories had on those delivering services. We all get so busy it’s easy to forget the seemingly small things that matter so much.

First and foremost, Patient Opinion is a place where people can speak about their experience of NHS services.    We will be looking to raise awareness of the website in a whole host of ways: talking to local community groups, contacting national charities, employing social media like Twitter.

Crucially, for the next twelve months we are going to be working in partnership with the NHS Scotland Better Together Programme to help NHS services in Scotland to hear what people are saying on Patient Opinion and to help make a difference with those stories. 

Several health boards are already getting involved in different ways: Dumfries and Galloway, Forth Valley, Scottish Ambulance Service, Golden Jubilee Hospital and the number is growing every week.    Some hope to use Patient Opinion in specific areas of their service, eg Neurology, to start with and take it from there.   

It’s great to be part of the Patient Opinion team.  As their first worker based in Scotland I am a new beastie to them and so far they have understood every word! Or so it appears! Though I haven’t unleashed the full range of my Scots vocabulary on them yet!

  This is me!