Patient Opinion
james.munro@patientopinion.org.uk
Presented at our conference January 2007
PPI: could the web help?
The web is transforming how we access and share information
- Holiday and hotel reviews, book reviews, restaurant reviews…
- Sharing pictures, videos
- Collective creation of reputation
- Citizen journalism
Much official health and social care information is already available online:
- nhs.uk
- Healthcare Commission reports
- Social care inspection reports
But none of this comes directly from the experience of patients
PPI and the web: pros
- A (very) public forum
- Widely accessible, even from home
- May allow wider participation
- Can cope with almost infinite numbers
- At low cost
- Allows even quiet voices to count
- Allows anonymity
PPI and the web: cons
- Requires net access
- Unfamiliar
- Not face-to-face
- May be harder to establish authenticity and trust
Patient Opinion A new website
- For patients
- to give feedback on their health services
- to easily see what others are saying
- For health care providers
- to hear – and respond to – patient concerns and thank-yous
- to compare their ratings with others
How is Patient Opinion set up?
A social enterprise - A not-for-profit business - Not a charity or a project
Independent of the NHS But sharing NHS values
Our experience to date
- About 1,500 opinions and ratings posted in 2006
- Much of it very positive
- Many “thank yous”
- Some very critical, but usually thoughtfully so
- We are able to publish over 95%
- Services are responding
- Trusts are learning to respond
- There is some wariness
- A new style of communication is needed
- But small changes to services are already being made
Where next?
- Covering more services
- Maternity, mental health, primary care…
- Widening engagement
- Could this be used by Links or OSCs?
- How could patient organisations get value from this?
- Generating real change