Wilmslow Health Centre Social Media Policy
In the modern age of the internet, some people choose to air their concerns regarding services on social media. Our experience is that, overwhelmingly, comments posted on social media tend to be positive but a small number have been negative nature and attract all manner of further negative responses – often becoming individualised comments rather than constructive feedback about an organisation. Such posts about our practice staff have been brought to our attention in the past.
We welcome all feedback – positive and negative – as it is gives us the opportunity to review the services we provide and, where necessary, make changes or improvements. Due to our obligations to preserve patient confidentiality, we are often unable to comment in reply to such public postings and so only one side of a story is presented to the public without us being able to defend our organisation. We would ask that rather than posting offensive or negative comments about the practice or any of our staff on social media, you bring aspects of the service that you are unhappy with to our attention using the following means and give us the opportunity to respond:
- In writing. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions in the letter box next to the reception desk, or hand in to a member of staff.
- Tell us about it (in a calm and polite manner!).
- You can visit the NHS Choices website and leave a ‘star’ rating and a comment – once again, we would ask that these comments are respectful, even if negative.
Please do not make an appointment with a GP to air a grievance, as this is a waste of precious clinical time and takes away another patient’s opportunity to have their physical or mental health attended to.
If any offensive social media posts are brought to our attention, we may contact the patient/s involved and invite them to have a face-to-face discussion about the issues that they have. We may also contact the administrators of the social media group on which postings have been made. However, depending on the content of the post, it may be viewed as a potential breakdown in the doctor-patient relationship and could result in you being removed from our practice list.