"not listened to"

Thank you for taking time to send us this feedback which I am grateful for. we can only improve things if we know about them and I know it is not always easy to speak up so thank you again.

Hopefully someone will feedback to you about this and see how we can take things forward. I do know like yourself Patients and Staff ( Kath ) work hard on the questions which of course are always recovery and valued based.

Thank you once again for your time on this and of course all the support you give Kath and the panels

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your opinion, it takes time to write these and courage to share.

The Patients interview panel have on the majority of time shared the same outcome as the professional panel and usually make the same decision. On some occasions this may be different but this does not mean your voice has not been heard or the panel is not worth sitting. It just mean that with the scores added together the outcome may be different or in the professional panel the other candidate was a much better candidate and fit for the service. I have completed interviews where one candidate was excellent in ne panel and not so great in another so were unable to be appointed all together as they were so far from the mark.

Please do not think this means patients voice is not been heard as it truly is and very much valued. We usually always agree on the same candidate but this shows that the interviews are right as we all have different opinions

Thanks for supporting us with these.

Adele

Thankyou for sharing this. I echo what Adele and Nigel have said. We have had face to face feedback with yourselves and explained, and put into perspective.

Please don't give up on the interview process you are valuable & experienced. I can assure you as the chair of the process for patient panels that the patients voice are listened too.

Thanks

Kath

I don't know if this was an interview that I arrange for qualified nurses and HCA's but we do really value patients voice, however sometimes candidates score high in other areas they are assessed on and this increases their overall score make it a pass mark.

Please keep doing interviews without patients panels the process would not work in our attempt to always get the best to take care of you. However don't always get it right every time but your contribution helps me constantly learn and relook at out process.

Gayle

Thank you for your feedback I passed this on to the panel members on this occasion and this is their response:

Thank you for your feedback and thoughts. I am aware that this was not the outcome that you were expecting from the interview process, and it has given me a lot of thought for reflection, and how we can work together better next time.

There was a difference between the qualities and knowledge that the patient interview panel were looking for, and specific skills that the professional panel were looking for. Which meant that where a candidate scored highly in one panel, they didn’t necessarily on the other. The candidate that we chose were able to fulfil the person specification that we were looking for. For this role, this included knowledge and experience of specific communication techniques e.g. easy read information, talking mats, signs and symbols, social stories, Makaton, which are specifically important for some of the patients that we work with. A good understanding of the role, strong evidence of CPD and self-motivated learning were also key for us.

In our decision making process, the patient panel questions were carefully considered. For example, you highlighted that it is important to you for someone to know about equality, diversity and inclusion, and that it is important to you that someone knows about and understands closed cultures. These will be key areas for us to focus on for our new starter, and I strongly believe they will take these issues very seriously.

I understand that it feels that we did not consider someone’s interaction and attitudes to patients as being important. We do consider this in our professional panel, and it is difficult when someone is able to demonstrate this in one interview but not in the other. We looked for evidence of putting patients first and foremost, and speaking up when they see that something isn’t right. Please be assured that the chosen candidate was able to show that they do this. We strongly believe that they will continue to do this through their time with us.

We have learnt that we need to improve communication between the professional and patient panels, and expectations before the interviews take place. We will dedicate time to spend with the patient panel before the interviews, to explain the role, and key skills we are looking for, and to listen to the criteria that the patients are looking for too. I believe that this will mean that we work together more compatibly next time.

Thanks Kay

(on behalf of the interview panel referred to)