SLaM leads the way to boost patient power

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) is boosting patient power by becoming the first NHS organisation to use a pioneering new system that enables people to easily comment on services.

Working with NHS feedback website Patient Opinion, the Trust has enabled anyone to share their healthcare stories on the SLaM public website, www.slam.nhs.uk.

This feedback is then published on www.patientopinion.org.uk, which creates conversations between service users and healthcare professionals to encourage service improvements.

This move follows the recent report of the House of Commons Health Committee, which strongly recommended the use of online services - like Patient Opinion - to allow anyone to see not only what patients are carers are saying about local health services, but also how their feedback is being used to improve care.

SLaM's Executive Medical Director, Martin Baggaley, says: "Our service users are well placed to give us suggestions for improvements to the care we offer. It is important to welcome all feedback, whether good or bad, so that we can make improvements and ensure that SLaM services are the best they can be.

"By including the Patient Opinion comments on our own website we are showing just how much importance we place on having an open and candid two-way conversation with our service users."

Patient Opinion CEO, Dr Paul Hodgkin, says: "People deserve a greater say in the way their local services are run and it's reassuring to see the government and NHS trusts doing all they can to put power back in the hands of patients.

"Everyone has a story to tell about their clinic or hospital experience and by sharing their feedback online they can drive real service improvements in their local services."

The Patient Opinion live-feed is just one example of new features added to the SLaM website which re-launched in July. The website also includes an interactive clinical services map, virtual tours of services and a spotlight feature to help highlight important information.