The South Eastern Trust has joined Regional colleagues in the Riddell Hall at Queen’s University to mark five years of Care Opinion, an online platform that lets patients, service users, carers and families to share their experiences of Health and Social Care.
Since its introduction in August 2020, Care Opinion has gone from strength to strength within the South Eastern Trust. More than 3,000 stories have been shared and responded to by staff, with Trust stories being read publicly over 470,000 times.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with 88% of responses highlighting good experiences of care. To support this, over 200 colleagues have been trained to respond directly to feedback, while a further 300 staff are actively listening to patient and family stories. This engagement ensures that people know their voices are heard and valued.
Care Opinion creates a vital two-way dialogue. Every story receives a response from Trust staff, meaning patients and families can see that their experiences have been acknowledged. The platform not only highlights examples of excellent care, but also identifies areas where improvements can be made, ensuring meaningful change in response to feedback.
Reflecting the Trust’s vision of prioritising Safety, Quality and Experience, the South Eastern Trust continues to encourage patients, carers and families to share their care journey. This feedback allows concerns to be addressed promptly, promotes positive experiences and drives continuous improvement across services.
South Eastern Trust Chairman, Jonathan Patton who attended the event said, “Partnership between patients, families, service users, clinical staff and ourselves is so important. This has to be care for the people at the right place, at the right time and in a way they need it that helps benefit them most. The partnership is so important, it is very much about the whole engagement where they talk to us and we understand their needs better and learn from this to provide better care. Care Opinion is that independent facility for us to hear and see that and to learn from it.
“It just means that patients and their families get to tell their own story in their own words and we get to hear that first-hand.”
Lead Nurse, Anaesthetics, Theatres & Intensive Care Services, Linda Gibson gave a presentation titled “The Power of One Voice” and stated, “It is very easy to work in your silo and to say “well we are perfect”, when in fact none of us are perfect. Every day is a learning day and we can learn from our patients and relatives and from all of these Care Opinions. This allows us to praise the teams when they do a good job.
“We want to continue to improve the standards that we are delivering and through Care Opinion, patients themselves or their relatives are helping us to do that.”
Governance Involvement and Improvement Lead, Colin Patterson, said “Care Opinion has transformed the way we listen to and learn from those who use our services. The fact that every story is read, acknowledged and responded to shows how committed we are to valuing people’s voices. The feedback we receive allows us to celebrate excellent care while also learning and making improvements where needed. We are proud to have embraced this platform and we will continue to use it to strengthen trust, transparency and patient experience across our services.”
