Commitment to patient experience recognised in national awards

Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s Involvement Team celebrates a double win for its commitment to patient experience.

The success was recognised at the Patient Experience Network National Awards in Birmingham which celebrated best practice in patient experience across the country.

The Involvement Interview Team was named winner in the Strengthening the Foundation category for the work involving service users and carers in the Trust’s recruitment process.  The Trust ensures that as often as possible, applicants are interviewed by a service user panel.  Eileen Burnside, an Involvement Interview Team interviewer commented:  “You get a feel for the person sitting in front of you.  We need professional, qualified individuals that have a real passion for people and the job they will do.  You can’t teach empathy and as service users we are best placed to make this judgement.”

The ‘Your Feedback Matters’ website and the work the Trust has developed online with Patient Opinion was named winner in the Innovative Use of Technology/Social Media category.  ‘Your Feedback Matters’ is a publicly accessible patient experience website that enables staff to see feedback about their team or service at any time online. 

Paul Sanguinazzi, Head of Involvement said:

“Thanks to all those staff and volunteers across the organisation who have made such amazing contributions to our work.  Their efforts have been recognised and make a real difference to our service users and carers.  We should be proud of what we have achieved together.”

The Trust was also named runner up in the Strengthening the Foundation category for the Patient Feedback Challenge.  A programme that works with teams to ensure they are excellent at listening and responding to feedback. 

Professor Mike Cooke CBE, Chief Executive said:  

“At Nottinghamshire Healthcare we are proud of the way in which we engage with and involve our patients and service users in shaping our services.  It is vital that we listen to and learn from patients’ experiences to ensure we are delivering high quality services that meet the needs of the communities we serve.  I am delighted for Paul and our Involvement Team; these awards are very well deserved.”