#feedback matters
Annual summary of activity on Patient Opinion – 15/16
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
Page 1
Contents
Annual summary of activity on Patient Opinion – 15/16 _________________________________ 1
Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 3
Key Facts ______________________________________________________________________ 4
Summary ______________________________________________________________________ 5
Range of organisations engaging with stories _______________________________________ 6
Sharing and encouraging positive practice ____________________________________________ 7
Exemplar Videos ______________________________________________________________ 7
Operational Lead Network sessions (online) ________________________________________ 7
PO Heroes ___________________________________________________________________ 7
Online training and support programme ___________________________________________ 7
Monthly briefing ______________________________________________________________ 7
Regular newsletters ___________________________________________________________ 8
Raising Awareness_____________________________________________________________ 8
Recent Developments ___________________________________________________________ 10
Future Developments ___________________________________________________________ 10
Tables and Graphs – explanatory notes _____________________________________________ 11
Table 1 - Summary Data by Board – 1.4.15-31.3.16 ____________________________________ 13
Table 2 – Top 10 referral websites _________________________________________________ 14
Graph 1 – Website traffic volumes (1.4.13-31.3.16) ___________________________________ 15
Graph 2 - Stories shared by Board _________________________________________________ 16
Graph 3 – Response rates by Board ________________________________________________ 17
Graph 4 –Criticality of stories by Board _____________________________________________ 18
Graph 5 – Critical stories leading to change __________________________________________ 19
Graph 6 – Change in number of stories shared by Board ________________________________ 20
Graph 7 - Stories shared by Board as % of all Scottish stories ____________________________ 21
Graph 8 – Stories shared by Board relative to total population served _____________________ 22
Graph 9 – Response times _______________________________________________________ 23
Graph 10 – Scotland – How authors rated responses (991 responses rated only) ____________ 24
Graph 11 – Staff reading trend by Board ____________________________________________ 25
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Introduction
This annual summary provides an overview of Patient Opinion related activity across Scotland. As
an organisation focussed on the power of the individual story and its corresponding potential to
encourage improvement, statistics are of secondary importance to us. However, we understand
that statistical analysis supports discussion, ideas exchange and are important in driving
improvement and change.
The Patient Opinion team are also often asked “how are other Boards doing?”, signifying that there
in interest and appetite to have and share information about activity across health services in
Scotland. There are a number of tables and graphs contained in this document which could facilitate
appropriate comparison for improvement and development purposes.
The analytics have been prepared using statistical information obtained from reports generated
from the Patient Opinion website about “patient facing” Boards.
Subscribing organisations can produce reports for their own health services on a Board wide,
location or department basis. For example:Level 1: NHS Lothian and/or;
Level 2: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and/or;
Level 3: Cardiology, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
To support learning and improvement, information about all patient facing boards in Scotland and
data for a three year period (1.4.13-31.3.16), has been included.
Find more information about using the Patient Opinion reporting tool here or contact us.
To share and encourage positive practice the summary also contains information about other
Patient Opinion related activity which has taken place during the period 1.4.15-31.3.16.
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Key Facts
21%
increase in
staff
reading
54%
stories
not critical
1779 stories
shared about
Scottish
Services
81% stories
responded
to in 5 days
or less
97% of
stories
responded
to
Average
reads per
story is 337
36%
increase
in stories
284 staff
with the
ability to
respond
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
63 changes
made or
planned
Stories
viewed
600,000
times
531 staff
reading
stories
2 May 2016
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Summary
Stories shared through Patient Opinion have increased by 36% in FY15/16. Response rates remain
high with an average of 97% of stories responded to. High response rates can encourage people to
continue to share their experiences as they see a strong likelihood of acknowledgement.
The speed of response can also be a factor in encouraging people to share stories. 81% of stories
shared about Scottish services are responded to in 5 days or less.
More changes than ever have been made or are planned as a result of stories shared on Patient
Opinion. 63 stories have resulted in encouraging change. Inevitably many more will have had an
impact on individuals: staff and people accessing services, which have not been recorded as a
change on the website. The Patient Opinion team are continuing to explore how to visibly quantify
the impact stories have.
Website traffic from Scotland has increased considerably in the year. The 1779 stories have been
viewed almost 600,000 times: an average of 337 reads per story.
These viewing figures are in addition to staff who may be reading stories as members of a
subscription. There has also been an increase of 21% staff reading stories (531) indicating that more
stories are getting through to more staff. Over half of these staff have the ability to respond to
stories (284) which can be helpful in ensuring a targeted, person centred response and that
improvement can take place quickly where required.
54% of stories shared about Scottish health services are not critical demonstrating that people are
looking for ways to share positive experiences and thanks.
The Patient Opinion team is continuously improving the openness, transparency and functionality of
the website and our service. We use feedback from staff and people who use our services to guide
our activity. We are also actively looking for ways to increase and improve engagement via the
website between people who use services and providers. Enabling authors to indicate whether a
response is helpful or not is a relatively new feature. 26% of authors ………..
There are lots of positive messages to share about activity on Patient Opinion across the NHS in
Scotland which, as a health system, continues to trail blaze the use of independent online feedback.
There is still a great deal of untapped potential in the use of Patient Opinion and the team will
continue to support innovation, development and the sharing of positive practice within individual
Boards, at national level, with key stakeholders and, of course, with people who have stories to
share.
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Range of organisations engaging with stories
In addition to an increasing number of staff reading and responding, other key stakeholders are also
engaged with stories being shared on Patient Opinion. These include:
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Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Scottish Public Service Ombudsman
NHS Education for Scotland
Patient Advice and Support Service
Scottish Government
Members of the Scottish Parliament (44 MSPs are currently registered with Patient Opinion
to receive stories shared by their constituents about health and social care)
Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament
Interest groups and organisations eg, SIAA (Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance), Skin
Conditions Campaign Scotland, The Health and Social Care ALLIANCE, Age Scotland,
Diabetes UK Scotland, Scottish Recovery Network
Care Inspectorate
We will continue to extend the ability to receive alerts and respond to organisations committed to
improving health and social care services.
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Sharing and encouraging positive practice
To encourage best practice we share ways in which staff across health services in Scotland are using
Patient Opinion. As story volumes and the number of health service staff engaged increases there
are even more great examples to share.
We share and highlight positive practice in a number of ways.
Exemplar Videos
The first exemplar video in Scotland featured NHS Lanarkshire and included people who had shared
stories as well as members of staff/Board members.
The video highlights how Patient Opinion is being used across the Board and is now available to
view.
Operational Lead Network sessions (online)
Two online sessions have been delivered as WebEx sessions. Recordings and presentations are
available in the links below.
Colleagues from NHS Lanarkshire explaining how they have rolled out Patient Opinion across the
Board.
Colleagues from Scottish Government/HIS demonstrating how stories shared on Patient Opinion
have the potential to inform quality improvement activity
PO Heroes
We regularly nominate staff members who use Patient Opinion in a notable way:
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quality of response;
commitment to demonstrating impact;
speed of response;
innovative and/or open to using a range of awareness raising methods;
general enthusiasm in using online feedback.
Online training and support programme
As well as providing support via phone, email and, when appropriate, face-to-face, the Patient
Opinion team also run an ongoing programme of online training and support sessions. As they are
accessible from the workplace (or home!) they are an efficient and cost effective way of:
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keeping up to date with the constantly improving functionality of the website;
looking at ideas about innovative ways to raise awareness;
getting support with responding;
meeting staff from other health and care providers who are using online feedback;
sharing positive practice.
The programme is accessible via the website.
Monthly briefing
Monthly briefings in email form are sent to the Chief Executive and Chair of every Board in Scotland.
The Executive and Operational leads (if identified) receive copies too.
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Each monthly brief issued has contained stories which have highlighted positive practice in the use
of Patient Opinion. These include stories which demonstrate person centred approach to feedback
and a culture of listening to, learning from and improving as a result of feedback.
Good to see an author, who has shared previous negative experiences about NHS Fife, highlight that
things have improved, “treating me as a person, not a problem”.
Swift and decisive response from NHS Ayrshire & Arran mental health team “clinics should give the
option of contacting over email or phone”
A great example about the Scottish Ambulance Service with the author signing off saying “I've been
left feeling the ambulance service really want to try to help.”
“Thank you for your feedback, it was really appreciated and has helped us to make a change in our
practice.” Grateful thanks from a granddaughter and an NHS Lanarkshire SCN who picked up on a
simple suggestion.
Poetry about NHS Dumfries & Galloway “Angels of Rehab at the community rehab unit”
And a response from Paul Gray, Director General of Health and Social Care, Chief Executive of
NHSScotland, to a story about that persistent smoking problem!
This story about NHS Forth Valley ICU is shared by someone who tells us, “I have been involved in
similar scenarios with patients and their families for years. This was the first time I’ve had a family
member of my own die in ICU.”
Regular newsletters
All staff on subscriptions and any other key stakeholder subscribers receive a regular newsletter
which highlights positive practice, developments and information about Patient Opinion
developments.
Raising Awareness
Health boards are using a variety of ways to raise awareness of Patient Opinion as part of their suite
of feedback mechanisms.
These include:
Featuring information, links and data feed on staff intranet;
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Non Execs/Public partners receiving reports or being alerted to stories;
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Adding information to staff salary advice slips/epayslips;
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Prominent display of link and data feed (widgets) on health board websites;
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Displaying/issuing Patient Opinion awareness raising materials (posters, postcards, banners);
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Including Patient Opinion website and contact details on bespoke posters and flyers;
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Including information in welcome packs;
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Issuing information in discharge packs;
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Using Twitter and Facebook to share links to stories and ask for feedback;
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Including information in patient appointment letters;
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Training staff in use of the website and in responding;
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Features on digital signs;
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Direct ask flyers;
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Patient Opinion web link in email signatures;
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Feedback sessions (supported by Patient Opinion team);
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Recent Developments
The pilot phase of Care Opinion completed at the end of March 2016. Together Patient Opinion and
Care Opinion offer a fully integrated feedback platform for health and social care.
The pilot was focussed on two areas: Fife and Ayrshire and Arran, where we have had excellent local
support and commitment from the local health boards.
An evaluation report is currently being prepared and will be circulated.
The Patient Opinion team will maintain contact with pilot areas to support continued engagement if
they wish as well as contacting Health and Social Care Partnerships across Scotland about using
online feedback.
We celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2015 and celebrated with an event in London where Chief
Nursing Officer, Fiona McQueen was the keynote speaker.
Life Changes Trust: People Affected by Dementia programme have funded Patient Opinion and
Talking Mats to work together to link our two innovative technologies to bring the experiences and
feedback of people affected by dementia into view alongside the feedback of others.
The project will be completed in June 2017.
Future Developments
The Patient Opinion team are open and responsive to any and all feedback about the website and
our support service. In June, we will be inviting feedback and comment via an online survey which
will support our continued development.
As time and resources allow, we have aspirations to develop in the following areas:
Continue to seek time effective ways for subscription managers across Scotland to share
positive practice;
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Seek ways to improve site accessibility and enable a wider range of people to share their
experiences;
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Create case studies and a further exemplar video to demonstrate the impact of using Patient
Opinion to encourage feedback;
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Continue to raise public awareness through partnerships with third sector patient led
organisations, social and conventional media.
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Tables and Graphs – explanatory notes
Table 1 - Summary Data by Board – 1.4.15-31.3.16
The table details various Patient Opinion related statistics per Board and across Scotland where
available.
These statistics have been drawn from the Patient Opinion website and relate to story and response
activity between the dates shown.
Please note that due to the dynamic nature of activity, these statistics are only applicable at a given
point in time. Small variations to expected statistics are therefore possible.
For the period 2015-2017, Boards were invited to self-assess against Patient Opinion’s
“Organisational Culture and Public Online Feedback: 9 Levels of Development” and to set an
aspirational target.
Table 2 – Top 10 referral websites
The table gives details of the websites which have encouraged people to visit the Patient Opinion
website. This may be as a result of good visibility of Patient Opinion information or widgets on
these websites or staff intranet.
Graph 1 – Website traffic volumes (1.4.13-31.3.16)
The graph demonstrates the increase in traffic to the Patient Opinion website over a three year
period from 1 April 2013.
Graph 2 - Stories shared by Board
The graph shows the trend in the number of stories shared by Board and across Scotland over a
three year period from 1 April 2013.
The highest number of stories for FY15/16 (480) have been shared about services delivered by NHS
Lanarkshire.
Graph 3 – Response rates by Board
The graph shows the percentage of stories responded to/not responded to by Board. The average
response rate across Scotland is 97%
Graph 4 –Criticality of stories by Board
The graph show the percentage of not critical/critical stories by Board. 54% of stories shared about
Scottish services are not critical.
Graph 5 – Critical stories leading to change
The graph shows the percentage of critical stories which have led to change/planned change per
Board over a three year period from 1 April 2013.
Across Scotland 8% of critical stories have led to change/planned change (63 changes).
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
Page 11
Graph 6 – Change in number of stories shared by Board
The graph shows the percentage increase/decrease in stories by Board shared between FY14/15 and
FY15/16.
Story volume across Scotland has increased by 36%.
Graph 7 - Stories shared by Board as % of all Scottish stories
The graph shows the percentage of stories shared by Board relative to the total number of stories
shared about all Scottish health services.
Graph 8 – Stories shared by Board relative to total population served
The graph shows the stories shared by Board expressed as a percentage of all stories shared about
health services in Scotland relative to the percentage of the Scottish population the Board serves.
Graph 9 – Response times
The graph shows the percentage of stories shared by Board which were responded to in 5 days or
less.
Graph 10 – Scotland – Responses rated as helpful by author
The chart highlights how authors rated responses to stories they shared about Scottish health
services. 991 responses were rated meaning not all authors rate responses. Enabling authors to
rate responses is a more recent feature on Patient Opinion and designed to help services understand
more about what authors feel is helpful in terms of response.
Graph 11 – Staff reading trend by Board
The graph shows the trend in number of staff reading stories by Board. Across Scotland there has
been a 21% increase in the number of staff reading stories.
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
90
22
72
FV
GJHN
Grampian
2 May 2016
43
12
72
15
90
13
NHS 24
Orkney
SAS
Shetland
Tayside
Western Isles
1779
121
Scotland
490
Lothian
64
Lanarkshire
Highland
340
110
Fife
GGC
42
D&G
1
5
1
4
1
2
7
28
4
19
4
1
5
6
2
1
16
100
A&A
26
292
Board
Borders
% of all
stories
Stories (n) shared
36
86
25
67
29
140
95
33
121
-16
21
20
-19
7
-7
31
24
40
97
92
98
53
100
58
100
94
99
75
94
100
100
94
100
100
100
100
Response
rate
Percentage (%)
difference responded
in stories
to
81
75
90
50
93
83
98
71
97
81
70
96
86
38
87
69
73
80
8
25
7
0
6
0
13
3
12
5
1
9
0
3
20
10
19
12
821
8
43
5
35
7
24
69
145
44
198
34
6
34
54
10
16
152
63
2
3
0
2
0
3
2
18
2
1
3
0
1
11
1
3
18
% of
critical
%
stories
responses which
5 days or have led Critical
Changes
less
to change stories (n) (n)
% non
critical
stories
54
38
52
67
51
42
44
43
70
31
42
53
73
62
51
76
38
48
599731
3472
26474
5779
35242
3161
18125
38391
142298
16250
103367
35360
7892
32331
54979
11276
6833
81738
Reads (n)
100
1
4
1
6
1
3
6
24
3
17
6
1
5
9
2
1
14
337
267
294
385
489
263
422
317
290
254
304
491
359
359
500
268
263
280
34
9
5
2
49
50
29
2
75
531
3
13
70
62
2
3
3
120
% of total Story read Staff
reads
ratio
reading
6
6
7
6/7
6
4
6
6
6
9
7
9
7
7
7
7
9
8
9 Levels self 9 Levels
assessment aspiration
Table 1 - Summary Data by Board – 1.4.15-31.3.16
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Table 2 – Top 10 referral websites
1
intranet.fife.scot.nhs.uk
2
nhslanarkshire.org.uk
3
nhsforthvalley.com
4
scottishambulance.com
5
nhsfife.org
6
shb.scot.nhs.uk
7
nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk
8
scottishmeshsurvivors.com
9
nhsborders.scot.nhs.uk
10
nhsgrampian.org
Patient Opinion Annual Summary 2015-2016
2 May 2016
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Graph 1 – Website traffic volumes (1.4.13-31.3.16)
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Graph 2 - Stories shared by Board
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Graph 3 – Response rates by Board
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Graph 4 –Criticality of stories by Board
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Graph 5 – Critical stories leading to change
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Graph 6 – Change in number of stories shared by Board
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Graph 7 - Stories shared by Board as % of all Scottish stories
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Graph 8 – Stories shared by Board relative to total population served
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Graph 9 – Response times
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Graph 10 – Scotland – How authors rated responses (991 responses rated only)
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Graph 11 – Staff reading trend by Board
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