Openess and Honesty is the key!

So, it’s the end of another week and another month! We have had more contacts this month than any month this year (since April 2014). The overwhelming theme is communication – lack of communication, things not explained properly or incorrect expectations being set. This is echoed in the majority of Patient Opinion postings.

Meeting peoples expectations is key to ensuring that people using health services have a good experience. Over promising, factually incorrect information or uncertainty has the power to damage reputation and therefore people’s perception of an organisation.

Being honest and open with people will help service users to have a better experience. This applies to Patient Opinion responses too. It is easy to fall into the trap of a very generic response and inviting someone to make contact to discuss their issues further.

Our experience is that people don’t do this, they prefer the anonymity of Patient Opinion and like that it is independent and in the public domain, therefore we have to respond more personally – respond individually to the comments and, where possible, answer their questions.

Spending time on a full, open, honest, apologetic response will pay off!