27 July 2006

Sheffield-based website Patient Opinion has been "highly commended" in the contribution to civic society category of the New Statesman New Media Awards.

Created by Dr Paul Hodgkin, the website allows patients to rate hospitals on a range of categories and then passes this information onto trusts which subscribe to the service.

Patient Opinion states that it was established to "find a way to make the wisdom of patients available to the NHS" and hopes to become a sustainable and financially viable enterprise.

"We created Patient Opinion as a means for patients and users of the NHS to play a genuine role in developing and improving services," Dr Hodgkin told e-Health Media.

"We wanted to use the power of the latest technology to support our aims of enabling patients to share their experiences of health care, by doing so to help other patients, and perhaps even to change the NHS."

The winner of the contribution to civic society category award was Write to Them – a website which allows users to locate and contact their MP, MEP, MSP, Welsh Assembly member or local councillor for free.

© Adfero Ltd

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