Volunteers sought to help test Health and Care Experience Survey

The Scottish Government are looking for volunteers to help them test the Health and Care Experience (HACE) survey.

The survey is carried out every two years and aims to gather the views of hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland about their experiences of health and social care.

The team that conducts the survey wants to work with volunteers to test the questions and make sure they are easy to understand.

Who can participate?

Anyone aged 17 or older, registered with a GP in Scotland, who uses social care for themselves and/or have caring responsibilities for others.

Please note this is an unpaid opportunity to help improve the survey.

What is involved?

The participant will:

• meet online with a researcher
• read parts of the questionnaire and/or accompanying material
• tell the researcher what goes through their mind when reading the material. For example, what bits are difficult to understand, how you are interpreting the questions and what you were thinking about when you chose an answer.

The researcher will mostly listen to the participants and ask questions if they arise.

What information will be collected?

The team are only interested in your interpretation and understanding of the survey questions. They are not interested in your answers to the survey questions and will not record them. You are free to skip any question you do not feel comfortable answering. Following the interviews, the interview feedback will be collated and anonymised.

Where, when and how long does it take?

Interviews will be online and last about one hour. It could be longer or shorter, depending on how many different health and care services you have used in the last 12 months. Interviews will be in July or August, at a time and date agreed between the participant and the researcher.

Why is this important?

This Health and Care Experience Survey is used to assess the quality of health and care services in Scotland and help improve it. Testing the survey and the material is important too, to make sure it asks the right questions, the questions are understood, and the survey is easy for everyone to fill in.

How to take part

If you are interested, please send an email to: patientexperience@gov.scot by 30 June 23. Please write cognitive testing participants in the object and let them know dates and times that you are not available (on holidays, etc). They will get in touch in July to arrange an interview.