Online feedback platform Care Opinion launches today in Northern Ireland
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From today service users, families and carers will have the opportunity to share their experience of Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (HSC) through an online user feedback platform called Care Opinion. Care Opinion is an independent non-profit feedback platform for HSC, supported by Department of Health and implemented by the Public Health Agency (PHA), which will enable users, and their families, to give feedback on their care and share their stories with others. The Health Minister said: "Care Opinion is an important tool that will help us deliver enhancements but for it to work as well as it can, we need to hear from everyone who has experience of using our health and social care services that includes service users and their families and carers. We want to hear not only about what has worked well, but also about the times when things could have been better. I would encourage people to use the platform and make their voice heard.” Care Opinion will share your story but not your name with the relevant Health and Social Care Trust where a healthcare professional will respond to your feedback via Care Opinion in an open and transparent manner. Responses will be person-centred and engage with the experience; giving assurance your story has been heard. Both the stories and responses nearly always appear online for others to read. Rodney Morton, Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professions at the Public Health Agency, said: “The launch of Care Opinion will provide a platform for improvements driven directly by feedback from patients and their families. “It will enable the public to influence health and social care services in new, open and transparent ways. We are really excited about taking this work forward.” If you have experienced Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland over the past three years, whether good or could have been improved, please tell your story to help improve the services you use. Care Opinion will treat your story confidentially. The only personal detail you have to share with Care Opinion is your email address and they will keep this confidential. Your story will appear using a screen name on the public website and your anonymity will remain protected at all time. Care Opinion will complement and enhance existing feedback systems within the six Health and Social Care Trusts which includes Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. For further information or to leave your feedback please visit www.careopinion.org.uk. Stories can also be shared by calling the Care Opinion Freephone number 0800 122 3135 or completing a freepost feedback leaflet. Ends |