Industry Focus

Patient Opinion was founded in 2005 and has since grown to be the UK's leading independent non-profit feedback platform for health services. Patient Opinion Australia was established in 2012 and, similar to its UK counterpart, is registered as an independent non- profit charitable institution. Both countries are working together to ensure effective and sustainable growth over time. In the UK, 800-plus organisations have registered with Patient Opinion. Currently, there are 50-plus organisations registered in Australia, however, this figure is expected to increase substantially in the near future. Patient Opinion is about fostering honest and meaningful conversations between patients and health services. Its aim is to promote constructive dialogue that will lead to a better service. It's based on the belief that patient stories can help make health services better, provided those stories are 'being heard', not just gathered. Australia is now following what other countries have been doing for some time. The healthcare industry is getting serious about gathering consumer views about their healthcare experience and using this data to help drive improvement across health services. Indeed, the 10 National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (set by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care) include the standard Partnering with Consumers. This is good news for the public and for healthcare providers because evidence shows that when consumers are involved in their healthcare, their service providers can provide better health outcomes and a more efficient health system ensues. So how can we best capture consumer or patient views in a way that promotes Encouraging open dialogue How is your organisation listening and responding to its patients? WORDS: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MICHAEL GRECO a better healthcare experience for all Australians? Organisations have used surveys, focus groups, suggestion boxes, complaints systems and, more recently, various online mechanisms and social media such as Facebook and Twitter. So what sets Patient Opinion Australia apart from these platforms? The key difference comes down to changing societal trends. The manner in which citizens are engaging with one another and with public services is changing—the public is less driven by organisation-centric tools such as surveys and user representatives. Hence, engagement tools need to 8 Industry Focus HEALTHCARE

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