NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has surpassed a major milestone in its efforts to encourage patients and their families and friends to share feedback on the care delivered in its hospitals.
In the nine months from April 2023-January 2024, NHSGGC has received more than 2000 pieces of feedback through Care Opinion – and of those, more than 80% of the feedback was positive, with 79% noted under the highest ‘Category 0’ rating.
Care Opinion is a national resource that gathers feedback anonymously and shares it with NHS services so they can pass on positive feedback and learn from any instances where levels of care may fall short of expectations
The level of feedback received by NHSGGC so far in 2023/24 is more than 30% higher than for the whole of 2022/23, and continues a trajectory that has seen feedback through Care Opinion treble since 2020.
The most positive feedback has also seen a significant upward trend, from 66% in 2020 to 70% last year before hitting the new high of 79% in the nine months of this year.
The figures of this year, and the longer-term improvements seen across NHSGGC, have not gone unnoticed by Sandra Bustillo, Director of Communications and Public Engagement at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who has executive responsibility for patient feedback and engagement.
She said: “Every day, staff throughout NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde work hard to give the best possible care to our patients, and to support families and friends through what can be a very difficult time.
“Everyone at NHSGGC is very proud of the work we do and the care we give, and open and honest feedback is an important way for us to build on what works well and improve what could be better.
“Care Opinion, which is one of a number of ways feedback can be shared with NHSGGC, allows patients or someone close to them to five anonymous feedback, and we would encourage people to use the service to give us their views on the care they or a loved one received.
“NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde always endeavours to answer the feedback we receive, if that’s appropriate, and what is said will always be passed on to the relevant service so they can continue to improve the care they give.
“We would like to thank patients and their families for their feedback, and all our staff for their continuing hard work and professionalism.”
For more about how to give feedback to NHSGGC, go to: Share Your Feedback – NHSGGC
For more about Care Opinion, either call 0800 122 3135, or go to: Care Opinion
Recent feedback on NHSGGC services
- “The whole stay was marked by the immense compassion of staff.”
April 2023
“I would like to thank the teams who cared for me after I arrived at A&E.”
“The nurses on the ward were majestic: they answered my questions about what might have caused the issue, reassured me, and were careful and honest about what was going on.”
“The nurse who monitored me overnight was the best of those I encountered, for her mix of professionalism and compassion.”
“The whole stay was marked by the knowledge, speed of action and … immense compassion of staff. This feels all the more remarkable given the sustained pressure on the NHS. I am very grateful for the care I received, and the fact that I am entirely well. Very many thanks to everyone from the lady who made me toast, to the porter, the reception staff, and both care teams.”
- “Supporting me through my first birth”
April 2023
“Last month I gave birth to my first child at the CMU in the RAH (Paisley) and could not have had a more positive experience.”
“The staff at the unit did everything in their power to support my birth plan and were patient, kind, supportive and knowledgeable throughout my long labour.”
“All of my wishes were respected, and even when I had a worried moment the midwives supported me to stay on track with my plan. Looking back I am so grateful for their patience and helping me through to have the birth experience I had wanted.” “Our post birth experience was also fantastic. All the midwives on the unit helped me with breastfeeding and gave me all the support and information I needed before going home with my baby. I even called them the next day to ask a question and again was quickly reassured and supported.”
“A brilliant unit with wonderful staff, I can never thank you all enough for supporting the birth of my first baby. Thank you.”
- “Our son’s recent visit to the hospital”
June 2023
“Our son is autistic, non-verbal with sensory processing and learning difficulties, and needed dental work done. There is no other way for this to happen except under general anaesthetic.”
“The care and support we received on the day was amazing but even more exceptional was the work done in the background on the lead up to the day which meant it was the best experience for our son as it possibly could be. Ensuring he was first into the ward, had his own room, everything was kept calm, and the staff went with whatever worked for him. “
“All through the day the staff were all brilliant, taking our lead, keeping the environment as calm and settled for our son as possible. We don’t know all the names of the staff who support our son [but] we would love it if those who supported our son were recognised for the wonderful work they do and that they know how much we, as a family, appreciated them.”
“In addition, when we first knew our son would need to go into hospital and be under general anaesthetic his own dentist, Gillian, who is based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital dental department, asked us if there was anything else we would want done. We asked about a hair cut and later about the possibility of giving him a vaccine he hadn’t had. These might seem straightforward things but to a child like our son, who is now a teenager, big and strong it is impossible to get anywhere near him to do things he doesn’t want to. We hadn’t been able to cut his hair for 3 years and he hadn’t had any vaccinations since he was 5yrs old.”
“We don’t know who, but somebody in the NHS arranged for a professional hairdresser to be in theatre with our son that day, the anaesthetist give him the HPV vaccine he hadn’t been able to have and the dentist even cut his finger and toe nails. We would love if someone could find out who the wonderful person was who arranged for the hairdresser, and say a massive thank you from us.”
“For all the staff in theatre who we didn’t meet on the day for working round all of this going on, just to make our son’s and our lives just a little bit better, we truly can’t thank them all enough.”
- “Amazing staff”
August 2023
“After visiting my GP I was advised to take my son to A&E and from the moment we walked in we received warmth, kindness and exceptional care from every member of staff. My son was nervous as he had previously had stitches and hated getting them but staff put him at ease and gave him plenty of reassurance throughout.”
“He was admitted to Ward 3C [Royal Hospital for Children] and stayed for 5 days. Everyone was so nice and the care provided was fantastic to both him and my husband and I who took turns staying over with him. The ward was lovely with a super little playroom where we even borrowed a PlayStation from. The Play Team came round regularly and the Cinema staff were so understanding. Food was great and the little kitchen with facilities was parents was so convenient. When he went for an MRI the staff explained things so well which put us both at ease and watching Harry Potter helped us both stay calm throughout.”
“It has been a horrible week for us but I really felt like we were in safe hands and got through all the pains and worries more easily because of the amazing staff.”
- “Staff were very patient, kind, and constantly reassuring”
December 2023
“I took a patient for an X-ray to Stobhill hospital who suffered from severe dementia and visual problems, the patient is in the habit of calling out all the time being unaware that she is doing this due to her condition.”
“The staff in the X-ray department were very caring and considerate towards the resident, to the fact that they were singing with her keeping her calm.”
“Everyone in that x-ray department including the porters who dealt with me were very pleasant to all patients who were coming in that day and it was lovely to see this, that they put all patients at ease.”
“I like to give credit and and acknowledgment where it is due, and I thank the staff for making the visit to their department a good day for both the patient and me.”