What’s the use of positive stories?

This seems to be a good time of year to be talking about the power of stories. And one of the stories I’ve been hearing recently goes something like this:

“Well, the positive stories on Care Opinion are all very nice and everything. But really, we need to hear more of the negative ones.”

Oddly, when I hear this story it is as likely to be coming from a patient/service user as a staff member. Some people (outside health services) seem to feel that if Care Opinion is not sharing enough negative stories, then it is not really “telling the truth”. And some people (inside health services) seem to feel that positive stories can’t contribute anything to the task of improving care.

It’s almost as if people believe that we only learn and improve when things go badly and can make no progress when things go well. But I think that’s a mistaken belief.

So here are a few reasons why I believe that the positive stories on Care Opinion really matter.

First, Care Opinion is citizen-centred, not organisation-centred. It is for people to share the experiences of care that matter to them. If many of those experiences that matter to people are positive ones, then so be it. Listen, and learn what it is that matters, and why.

Second, these stories have a powerful impact in lifting staff morale – and that is very often exactly what the story donor intends. Online feedback is not just data: it is often an intervention, an act of encouragement, support and solidarity with public service staff.

Staff and patients: both have something to give the other.

As a side-effect, this mutuality of care reminds us all that both staff and patients bring their own needs and their own resources to each encounter. Both have something to give the other.

Third, online stories of remarkable care are shared widely and can become a simple but effective way to share good practice across the UK and internationally. This story of extraordinary end of life care, for example, has been read over 50,000 times to date and has prompted new thinking in services elsewhere.

Fourth, one member of staff explained how receiving so much positive feedback from patients had changed her team culture. “We give each other more positive feedback now”, she told me. Another way that staff are learning from patients.

Fifth, for health/care professionals in training, positive stories of multidisciplinary teams in action can provide important insights into the contribution that each profession makes to good care. The potential for such stories to support interprofessional learning is huge.

And finally, let’s remember that as staff use stories of any kind to learn and improve, our goal is that positive experiences will become still more prevalent. It would be perverse to complain about a result which we have all been working to achieve.

So, at this time of year, let’s be grateful to each person who shares their positive story of care. Let’s accept these gifts in the spirit they are given, with open hearts and open minds to the learning and understanding they offer us.

Do you have other examples of how positive stories can be of value? Please share your thoughts in a response below.