Create a private Facebook group for staff

Creating a group that allows staff members to easily access, share and discuss Care Opinion stories can be hugely beneficial and is something we always encourage. After all, part of the Care Opinion mission is that "stories are directed to wherever they can help make a difference". Help make a difference can mean learning from feedback and creating improvements, but it can also mean making sure the positive feedback and the "thank you"s are shared with the staff and teams they have been shared about. An obvious way to do this is to share and discuss stories in meetings and staff huddles. Another key way to ensure all staff can see feedback about their service is to add as many staff members as possible to your Care Opinion subscription so that they are able to receive email alerts when a story is published about their specific service.

These are both great options, but of course, not all staff are/can be involved in meetings/huddles and not all staff have the opportunity to access their emails throughout their working day. This is why a Facebook group can provide the perfect platform to keep everyone involved. 

Sharon Kidd, Patient Experience Manager at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, uses the trust’s closed staff Facebook group to post positive Care Opinion stories. Sharon says that it really helps to boost morale as well as increase readership, awareness and engagement with Care Opinion. Sharon explained that "The NHS isn’t always brilliant at sharing great feedback with frontline staff. It’s easy to get bogged down in the negative feedback. But it’s so important to boost staff morale and give them the amazing feedback they deserve." You can read more about how Sharon uses this Facebook group and social media as a whole to support her trust's work with Care Opinion over on our subscriber support blog.

So, why not create your own staff Facebook group? Whether there's already an established staff Facebook group that you can share your amazing feedback in, or if you'd like to create a new one specifically for sharing Care Opinion stories to discuss, share and learn from, then just give it a go! It's up to you how you choose to set it up, whether you'd like to share a range of stories to spark discussion and learning, share fantastic examples of changes and good practice in responding ,or just a "feel good" story every few days. The (Facebook) world is your oyster! Give it a go and let us know how you get on - or get in touch with questions and advice!