Welsh NHS needs to follow England on hospital patient feedback says Welsh Liberal Democrats

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 14th Aug 2009

Welsh Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson, Peter Black has called on the Health Minister to learn from England in finding better ways for patients at Welsh hospitals and their relatives to provide comments and feedback about their experiences.

Mr. Black has contrasted the system in Wales with that which is operating in England where an on-line feedback site has been set up so that patients and their relatives can add comments and give simple ratings on a range of different performance factors.

Mr. Black said: -

"The English site is very similar to those that are used to rate holiday resorts.

"Some people may say that this is a gimmick, but the site does offer an outlet for people to praise where due and to sound off if necessary and some anecdotal evidence on the quality of the service.

"It also means that those in charge politically can see how the NHS is responding to the needs of those it is meant serve.

"Wales is behind England in this area. By contrast, the tools available to users of the NHS in Wales are cumbersome, difficult to access and overly bureaucratic.

"We owe it to Welsh patients and their families to offer them a better way to comment upon, and assess their experience. Whilst those of us attempting to hold Labour and Plaid to account for the billions of pounds spent on this service every year would benefit from being able to see patients' thoughts and assessments of the Welsh NHS.

"The Minister should learn from the NHS in England and introduce something similar here in Wales."

Ends

Note: The English ratings service, which can be found at http://www.nhs.uk/Pages/HomePage.aspx enables patients and their relatives to add comments and give simple ratings on a range of different performance factors. It is very similar to those sites that are used to rate holiday resorts. There is a link to the page assessing the nearest hospital in the Wirral at http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/pages/Hospital.aspx?id=RBL14&v=4 as an example of what it looks like. The nearest thing available to this in Wales is a site called 'Patient Experience: Public and Patient Involvement in NHS Wales' at http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/events.cfm?orgid=420&id=2977, which appears to be more a management tool than an open and accessible way for those who use the service to express their views on it.

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Welsh NHS needs to follow England on hospital patient feedback says Welsh Liberal Democrats

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