Mental Health Trust adopts Healthwatch Birmingham Feedback Widget

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) has become the latest organisation to adopt Healthwatch Birmingham’s Feedback Centre Widget.

Service users can now share their experiences of BSMHFT by visiting their website directly. The Widget is linked to Healthwatch Birmingham’s online Feedback Centre, which provides patients, the public, service users and carers with a stronger say about health and social care by offering them a route to share their views.
BSMHFT provides mental health care to over 50,000 people each year who are experiencing mental health difficulties in Birmingham and Solihull.  The Trust is one of the largest mental health trusts in the country, with over four thousand dedicated staff who are continually working to help service users on their recovery journey and challenge the stigma associated with mental illness.
Healthwatch Birmingham’s widget, available to adopt for free by health and social care providers in Birmingham, gives services greater insight into patient experience by enabling more people to share their views.
John Short, Chief Executive of BSMHFT, said: “It is very important that service users and carers have the opportunity to tell us about their experiences so that our Trust can respond appropriately and work towards developing and improving the services that we provide.
“We have a robust patient experience team who are dedicated to listening to what our service users are telling us, putting patient experience at the very heart of everything that we do.
“Patient experience is currently captured in a variety of ways and we welcome the addition of the Healthwatch Widget, which will provide an additional route for our service users and carers to let us know what we are doing right and the areas of our services that require improvement.”
Healthwatch Birmingham’s Head of Evidence, Jane Upton stated: “We are delighted that Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust have adopted the Widget. Patient feedback is vital to the improvement of local services and understanding whether people’s needs are being met.
“In adopting the Widget, the Trust has shown a real commitment to placing services user’s experiences at the heart of care quality improvement.”
With over 50 different sites, including community mental health teams, acute inpatient and speciality services such as eating disorders, service users and carers can share their feedback about BSMHFT’s specific services on the Feedback Centre.
Feedback received will be featured through the Widget on BSMHFT’s website at http://www.bsmhft.nhs.uk/service-user-and-carer/patient-and-public-experience/healthwatch/ and Healthwatch Birmingham’s Feedback Centre at: http://www.healthwatchbirmingham.co.uk/services
People can submit their experiences anonymously. Healthwatch Birmingham does not share the personal details of reviewers without permission.