Listening to Patient Feedback

Tuesday 31^st March 2015 – 10.40am – Murray MacGregor.

As an NHS organisation, listening to the views and feedback of our patients and their families is a vital part of what we do.

But listening is not enough; it’s what we do with the information that is important, which is why we have just launched a series of information sheets on our website for people who have a learning disability.

West Midlands Ambulance Service interacts with nearly two million patients and their families a year, whether that is face-to-face after a 999 call, as part of a non-emergency pre-planned journey to hospital or on the phone providing help and advice.

In addition we speak to dozens of patient groups every year to find out about what they think of us and what we can do to improve the service we provide.

As part of that learning we have been talking to groups who represent patients who have a learning disability or profound multiple learning disabilities (PMLDs).

WMAS Deputy Chief Executive, Diane Scott, said: “Being able to communicate with people in their hour of need is clearly of the utmost importance for an organisation like ours.

“This is one of the reasons why we have been updating the information that we have available for this group of patients. Hopefully we can ensure that if the worse were to happen, they have had a chance to read and understand what is about to happen.

“Equally, for our staff, ensuring they know what to do is just as important. Some use mini computers, others story boards while some may prefer pictures.

“We train our staff that body language, tone of voice and the words they use may be the only way the patient will understand them.

“The new pages provide some basic awareness for communication and information about Carers Rights.

“Whilst these pages are new, we recognise that this is an on-going process and we aim to add more and more to this important area of our site over time.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with learning disability groups in the region so that we can continue to improve the way we provide our service to each and every one of our patients.”