What will really make the difference?

So the CQC find that in one in five hospitals the care of the elderly is poor. No surprise there given the stories we are often told on Patient Opinion. So will the Health and Social care Bill that squeaked through the Lords yesterday make any difference?

If we set aside all the organisational turmoil of making the changes (a big set aside I grant you) will the reforms once fully in place make any difference?

Our guess here at Patient Opinion is sadly, probably not. We don’t doubt the sincerity of the Secretary of State in wanting to put the patient squarely at the centre of things but the NHS still wants to do this on its own terms. Look at its behaviour – even in the way it seeks to put patients centre stage – it’s still deeply focused on its own needs: You answer the questions that we put in our questionnaires. We look at the results and if you’re lucky you might see the occasional change.

Nothing wrong with this except it is the NHS itself and its own needs that are taking centre stage, not the patients’. Out there people want be part of a conversation as they are on FaceBook and Twitter and they really don’t see themselves as feedback fodder any more.

So what would make a difference to how we care for elderly people? Saying ‘Lessons will be learnt’ is no longer adequate. Indeed after so many inquires and debacles the next politician who says this kind of thing (no matter if it is true) is likely to be lynched by the media.

What we need to do is to make the desire to listen a reality, and for the first time ever we can move beyond platitudes and start to do this in ways that give the patient’s side of the conversation real power. The next time there is something like the CQC report telling us of yet another dreary failure, the response from Andrew Lansley should now be: ‘You’re right. We messed up. We know we need to listen. And we understand that you may not trust us to right now. So we want you to tell us what you think of the NHS, good and bad, in public, confidentially via independent sites like Patient Opinion. And we guarantee to reply, in public to every single story.’

Now that really would signal a sea-change in the scale, transparency and power of the patient voice.