The Language of Patient Feedback

This insightful work analyzes health communication through patient feedback, offering critical recommendations for the NHS and valuable perspectives for researchers in the field.

This book is the first to provide a linguistic analysis of health communication through corpus linguistics. Offering a unique insight into a diverse range of issues related to health care, The Language of Patient Feedback is essential reading for anyone involved in research within corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, and health communication.

The Language of Patient Feedback delves into a comprehensive analysis of 29 million words of online patient feedback on the NHS in England, alongside 11 million words of responses from NHS providers. This thorough investigation employs a combination of computer-assisted and human analysis, known as Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis, to explore how factors such as age and gender influence different types of evaluations. The book also examines the distinct types of feedback associated with various healthcare professionals, including nurses, doctors, dentists, and receptionists.

Furthermore, the text highlights how NHS staff respond to patient comments, shedding light on the underlying institutional ideologies and practices. The book concludes with insightful recommendations for the NHS to enhance the quality of care provided, while reflecting on the valuable insights that patient evaluations can offer. This work is indispensable for anyone interested in the intersections of language, health, and communication.