Our newest Star Responder

As a responder on Care Opinion, you may encounter stories that range from entirely positive to those where authors may have had more of a negative experience. Responding well can be a challenge, processing all the points covered in the story and crafting a thoughtful response that addresses the author’s concerns may require some time and effort. It’s important to put yourself in the author’s shoes and consider what kind of response you would like to receive if you were in their position.

Responding to authors’ stories offers a valuable opportunity to engage with patients, service users, their families and carers in a way that is open and transparent. By responding thoughtfully, you can demonstrate that you are actively listening and are opened to learning, change and development.

Our team has observed many great examples of empathetic responses from across Scotland, and we recognize these “Star Responders” for their outstanding contributions. Every day, our moderation team carefully reviews the stories submitted to Care Opinion, including the responses received. They highlight the most compassionate responses that are tailored to each individual’s experience with a unique touch, which helps highlight being human and transparent in health and social care.

Our newest Star Responder is Catherine Halliday, the Senior Charge Nurse at the Dunvegan Ward of the Royal Hospital for Children & Young People in NHS Lothian. Her response impressed us with acknowledgement of both the positive and the critical parts of the story and was able to share with the author how the service was going to take onboard all the points the individual made in a way that showed her empathy and understanding.

Catherine’s lovely response showed how the service is taking onboard this feedback and how they are going to learn and change as a result. She ended her response in a wonderful way saying:

“Again, I’d like to thank you for your constructive feedback, and hope that going forward we can help to make the hospital experience easier for all children in hospital and hope that we can address some of the issues raised specific to children with ASD.”

We also had the pleasure of speaking with Catherine about what it means to be recognized as one of our Star Responders. She told us:

"I’ve really enjoyed responding to the Care Opinion stories left for Dunvegan. It is important to me to be able to respond directly to families who have been under our care and to see and pass on to ward staff how much their hard work is recognised and valued. Being recognised as a Star responder really highlights how important it is for those involved with the care of patients to respond to the stories. This has allowed me to quickly share information and implement changes focussed on improving the journey for our patients."

Louise Davies, Patient Experience Officer at NHS Lothian also commented on Catherine's latest Care Opinion achievement:

"We are absolutely delighted that Catherine has been chosen as a Star Responder and that she is being recognised for her hard work. Despite being relatively new to Care Opinion, Catherine has shown an excellent ability to listen to feedback and respond effectively and compassionately. In this particular response, she identified areas for improvement and took prompt action to improve the experiences of patients and their families. What a great example of encouraging feedback and using it constructively. Well done, Catherine!"

Thank you, Catherine, for your dedication and we hope you will enjoy wearing your new shiny badge with pride! We are looking forward to reading your future responses!

If you would like to learn how to respond to stories on Care Opinion, our how-to webinar series highlight strategies about how to respond well, and our dedicated team of support officers regularly hosts these informative and approachable webinars. These webinars are available to all subscribers, and you can access recordings of previous webinars and find further information on upcoming dates by visiting this page.