We aimed to improve the collection of patient feedback in our district general hospital allergy clinic to promote engagement of children, young people and families with the service.All children, young people and families attending a district general hospital ‘one stop’ multidisciplinary children’s allergy clinic were invited to submit real time feedback using a ‘business card’ feedback tool.
Participants were encouraged to submit brief one or two word feedback, lengthy questionnaires were deliberately avoided.
Responses were then summarised using a ’word cloud’ and were made freely available on social media via twitter and facebook as well as being displayed weekly in allergy clinic. Patients and families are also invited to submit feedback via twitter if they wish.
The real time feedback tool has now been running for 18 months. Seasonal themed word clouds are generated to capture the attention of children and young people.The feedback has been used to make changes to the service eg following a number of comments regarding the length of waiting time, pre-clinic information has now been developed to give more information on what to expect on the day of the appointment, including expected duration of visit.
Collection of real time feedback using a business card tool and displaying via a word cloud on social media is a novel, feasible and popular method of collecting patient feedback in a paediatric allergy clinic which has led to service improvement and aligns with NHS priorities for engagement with children and young people.