Views sought on hospital eye services
The Public Health Agency (PHA) and the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) are urging those who have used a hospital eye care service in the past two years to share their experience through the 10,000 Voices programme to help shape how care is delivered in Northern Ireland.
10,000 Voices is a PHA initiative which gives people an opportunity to provide feedback on their experiences of accessing Health and Social Care services by asking them to ‘tell us their story’.
Mary Hinds, Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professions at the PHA, said: “10,000 Voices aims to involve the public in shaping future healthcare services across Northern Ireland. The initiative acknowledges that patient and client contribution is fundamental to ensuring that services are commissioned to deliver better outcomes for patients, their families and carers.
“We want people to tell us about their experiences of health and social care and to highlight the things that were important to them. The information we receive will help us to direct how health and social care is shaped and delivered in Northern Ireland.”
If you or someone you care for has had experience of hospital eye care services in the past two years – this may be any aspect of hospital eye services including attendance at an eye clinic, eye casualty or treatment as a day case or inpatient – then 10,000 Voices would like to hear your story.
Dr Jackie McCall, Consultant in Public Health at the PHA, said “Over the last few years we have been working in partnership with a range of stakeholders to improve the commissioning and provision of eyecare services. The HSCB and PHA co-lead on the implementation of the strategy “Developing Eyecare Partnerships, Improving the Commissioning and Provision of Eyecare Services”, published by Department of Health in 2012. It is important for us to learn from the experiences of service users and carers to understand how we can further improve services.
“I encourage anyone who has experienced any hospital eye care services since July 2014 to get involved, tell their story and answer some brief questions about what they thought about the service and how it could be improved.”
Raymond Curran, Head of Ophthalmic Services at Health and Social Care Board also urged users and carers to share their experiences and help improve services and outcomes. He said: “The Board are pleased to be associated with this innovative and interactive method of improving eyecare services. We talk of “co-production”, but what we really mean is putting patients, users and carers at the heart of shaping improvements in eyecare, and 10,000 Voices represents a fabulous tool to do just that.”
You can tell your story by completing a survey at www.10000morevoices.hscni.net.