Who is Care Opinion
Care Opinion Australia (Care Opinion) is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates transparent, two-way feedback about personal experiences of care via an online public platform. We are independent from service provides and the government to ensure we remain a neutral party between those receiving care and those providing it.
Care Opinion’s vision is for people to be able to share their experiences of health and care in ways that are safe, simple and lead to organisational learning and change. We enable consumers (residents, patients, clients and their carers/families) to share holistic stories with health, community and aged care providers (providers) without reserve or the confines of survey boxes in order to recognise the exceptional care that was received and/or to highlight the need for change.
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What is a story?
A story is feedback about a person's personal experience of care written as a narrative, briefly explaining what happened and how they felt about the experience. It's about what went well, what could have gone better and everything in between.
Storytelling gives a person receiving care to share what matters most to them or their family, friend or carers, in their own words, at their own pace, when they are feeling ready.
Why is storytelling important?
Traditional feedback mechanisms tend to invite consumers to focus on what happened, when it happened, who provided the care and who received it so that specific experience can be investigate. Feedback shared anonymously as stories invite a different focus. It gives the storyteller space to explain what was going on for them personally to support why they felt the way they did - inviting the reader 'behind the scenes' to understand the storyteller's own emotional and physical state and how the care provided impacted that.
On Care Opinion, it is also about how a person felt, what could be improved and where staff made a difference.
Reading stories in this context is about reading to see beyond 'what happened' and to understand how care is perceived and what person-centred care looks like to people receiving it
Stories are a great way to highlight that there is a person behind the feedback and that both consumers and staff are at the heart of every experience of care.
How do you keep me safe online?
At Care Opinion, our highest priority is to ensure that all parties in the storytelling process remain safe. To do this, we moderate each story to make sure it meets our moderation principles and the the storyteller is de-identified before the story is published on our site. If a story is critical of specific staff members, they too are de-identified prior to publication. Our overarching moderation principles are:
- Enable a clear, timely, public and constructive conversation about care.
- Make giving feedback safe and easy for consumers (patients, residents, family representatives, service users and carers).
- Encourage authentic feedback, based in personal experience.
- Treat staff legally and fairly.
Read more about our moderation at Care Opinion Australia.
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