Responding to postings on Care Opinion - especially critical ones - is not easy. It often takes some thought and, like everything, we all improve with practice
Read this for some practical guidance on how to put up a response.
Here are some ideas, with examples from other subscribers, of what we think helps make a good response.
Empathy and understanding
Showing you care about someone's experience - good or bad - is at the heart of all health care. The web is an informal place, and your responses can be too. Try using 'I' rather than 'we' and adding the occasional real name makes your responses more human and web-friendly. Some people have just the right tone:
- Response from Fiona McQueen at NHS Ayrshire and Arran
- Response from Louise Ewing at Health & Social care Fife
Apologising
Sometimes, apologising for a poor experience is just the right thing to do, even if you're not sure "who's to blame":
Explaining what normally happens or why things happen
It might help to explain what normally happens or why things happen in a certain way - to help everyone better understand your organisational processes.
- Response from Louise Ewing at NHS Fife
- Response from Sharon Kidd at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Saying what you will do with the feedback
Whether it's as simple as talking to staff about the feedback, right through to changing the way you do things - this is your chance to let everyone know what you do with feedback.
Saying what you will do to make an improvement
It's often best to focus on what are you going to do and how this will help inform service improvements, than on why it happened. This is a great opportunity to tell the world what you've done as a caring, responsive organisation.
- Response from Pamela McGoldrick at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
- Response from Deborah Colvin at The Lawson Practice explaining the changes they will make
- Response from Christine Somerville at NHS Ayrshire & Arran explaining how feedback has now led to a change
- Response from Rick Edwards at NHS Lanarkshire explaining what will change
Giving a short response followed by a fuller one
It might be hard to post a full response without some time to find out more about the issue. It is fine to post a "holding response" followed by another later:
- Two responses from John Graham at NHS Grampian
- Two responses from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Giving options for what the author could do next
Sometimes issues can't be resolved online. Your response can guide what they should do next, by suggesting they contact a named person, go back to the service, or contact their GP.
- Buckinghamshire Healthcare ask a patient to get in touch
- Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust signpost author to The Stroke Helpline
Linking to other sites
Don't forget that it's very easy to embed links to other information and resources - for example, your PALS email, a link to Board/Trust policy documents, details of a local advocacy service, a local public body like Healthwatch (in England), or a patient/service user organisation like Diabetes UK or SAMH.