Key milestone for 10,000 Voices

10,000 Voices, a Public Health Agency (PHA) initiative which gives the people of Northern Ireland an opportunity to provide feedback on their experiences of accessing Health and Social Care services, has passed a key milestone with over 3,000 patients, clients and families telling their story.

The project aims to involve the public in shaping future healthcare services across Northern Ireland. Pat Cullen, Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professions at the PHA, said: “10,000 Voices is a unique project that offers people an opportunity to tell us about their experiences as a patient or as someone who has experienced the health service, and to highlight the things that were important to them, which will help direct how care is delivered in Northern Ireland.

“We want patients, families and carers to share their experiences of healthcare and how it has impacted on their lives. We will collect 10,000 stories to inform the commissioning process, enabling the delivery of better outcomes and better value for money in how services are delivered. This will be carried out using a phased approach.”

The 10,000 Voices project reflects the ethos of Transforming Your Care, which presents a significant opportunity to fundamentally improve the quality of care for everyone in Northern Ireland and places patient experience at the heart of these reforms.

Pat continued: “The 10,000 Voices project acknowledges that patient and client contribution is fundamental to ensuring that services are commissioned to deliver better outcomes for patients, their family and carers. The project will be a powerful way of making sure that patients’ voices are heard and that improvement of services is centred on their needs.

“Phase one of the project started last September and focuses on patients who have used services after becoming suddenly unwell, such as Emergency Departments, Minor Injuries Units, GP out-of-hours and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

“Phase two began in February this year and focuses on the experience of patients and clients who receive care at home. We currently welcome feedback from people in both phases. Health and social care is of interest to everyone in Northern Ireland, therefore I would urge people to take a few minutes to complete this survey and help us improve our services.”

For more information and to see how your organisation can get involved, please visit the PHA website. The survey is also available to complete at www.10000morevoices.hscni.net.

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