“We want our health & care system to be the safest and most compassionate in the world. This means encouraging patients to speak up with concerns, ensuring we act on them and learning from mistakes.” Caroline Dinenage MP
Local MP, Caroline Dinenage, is encouraging constituents to #DeclareYourCare.
The Care Quality Commission is calling for people to speak up about their experiences of care, as new research* shows that almost 7 million people in England who have accessed health or social care services in the last five years have had concerns about their care, but never raised them**.
The most common reasons for not raising a concern were not knowing how or who to speak up to, not wanting to be seen as a ‘troublemaker’ and worries about not being taken seriously. Over a third of people felt that nothing would change as a result. However, when people did raise a concern or complaint, the majority found their issue was resolved quickly, it helped the service to improve and they were happy with the outcome.
The #DeclareYourCare campaign is encouraging people to share their experiences of care with CQC to support its work to improve standards of care in England.
Ian Trenholm, Chief Executive, Care Quality Commission said:
“Our annual State of Care report shows that most people are getting good care, a real testament to the hard work of the many people working across Health and Social Care in this country. We know that when people raise a concern they have a genuine desire to improve the service for themselves and others. We also know that the majority of services really appreciate this feedback and make positive changes, as this new research shows.
Hearing from people about their experiences of care is an important part of our inspection work and contributes to driving improvements in standards of care. Everyone can play a part in improving care by directly giving feedback to services, or by sharing information and experiences with us so that we can take action when we find poor care. Sharing your experience also enables us to highlight the many great examples of care we see.”
Commenting, Caroline said:
“I encourage anyone who has concerns over their care, or the care of loved ones, to share their experiences with the Care Quality Commission - so they can continue their vital work of protecting patients and improving the excellent care we see across the health service.”
You can share your experience of care, on behalf of yourself or a family member, at www.cqc.org.uk/sye