Health services in Newcastle and Gateshead are benefiting from feedback given by patients and service users.
Healthwatch Newcastle and neighbours Healthwatch Gateshead are using a new feedback form and web portal to actively seek feedback from people using health services in their areas.
The feedback system has been tried and tested and has been hailed a success at a time when the results of a national survey are released based on the various methods of giving feedback.
The new research by health and care champion Healthwatch England adds to a growing evidence base that people recognise the pressures the NHS is under and want to help make it better by sharing their feedback.
The key to turning the public’s willingness to provide feedback into useful insight is to keep it simple.
According to polling carried out by YouGov for Healthwatch, 76% of adults in England would be interested in sharing their feedback with GPs to improve services but only 23% said that they had actually provided feedback. The most common reason given was that patients are unsure how to provide comments and raise concerns (37%).
Of those who had provided feedback to their family doctor, the most popular option was the traditional comments box (44%), followed by face-to-face feedback to GP practice reception staff (18%) and to GP themselves (16%).
When those who had never provided feedback were asked which methods would encourage them to do so in future, 30% said they were mostly likely to respond to text or email follow-ups after a consultation, with 28% again opting for a comments box.
Interestingly social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook were the least popular forum, with just 3% of those who had provided feedback choosing to do so via social media, and only 12% of those interested in giving feedback in future saying they would consider using such channels. This would suggest that using confidential channels is another key element of sharing feedback with GPs.
As part of the #ItStartsWithYou campaign, Healthwatch Newcastle and Healthwatch Gateshead are calling on GP practices, as the front line of the health service, to send a strong cultural signal to patients that the NHS is open and interested in listening to their views.
The feedback forms and web portal have proven very popular with doctors and other health professionals being notified by the Healthwatch teams if there are any negative comments or if they receive a low star rating.
Healthwatch Newcastle Chief Executive, Steph Edusei, is also encouraging GPs and other primary care staff to share their own stories to see how patient feedback has helped them to learn and improve the way they provide care.
“Our experience is that people want to share their experiences both negative and positive.
Our feedback forms and web portals are simple, clear and confidential. Healthwatch is here to help busy surgeries not only improve how they seek feedback but also help GPs and practice managers explain how this insight is being used to give people the care they need. Ideally, we would like every practice in Newcastle and Gateshead to hand out our feedback forms to every patient they see. I’m sure that the data we receive would be invaluable in making the primary care service even more efficient.”
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