National survey shows ‘encouraging’ improvements in people’s hospital experiences
9 Apr 2014 12:33 PM
People are generally having a better experience
in hospital than a year ago but the quality of their stays can vary, according
to a national survey from the Care Quality Commission
(CQC)
Around one in four people rated their overall experience
in hospital as 10 out of 10, reveals the survey, which gathered the views of
over 62,400 people who had stayed in hospital for at least one night last
year.
The
survey asked people to give their opinions on the care they received, including
on the information provided by staff, whether they were given enough privacy,
the cleanliness of their wards, and on their discharge
arrangements.
On
a national level, people were more positive about their stays in hospitals,
with most responses in the survey having improved or stayed the same since it
was last carried out in 2012.
Key
highlights include:
Overall experience
71%
rated their overall experience as 8 or above and 27% as 10 out of 10; up from
69% and 25% in 2012.
Dignity and respect
1%
of people felt they were always treated with dignity and respect; up from 80%
in 2012.
Discharge arrangements
54%
felt that they were “definitely” involved in decisions about their
discharge from hospital; an increase from 53% in 2012 but this still leaves 46%
who did not feel fully involved. Also, 41% of those surveyed said that their
discharge from hospital was delayed, representing no change from last year. The
delay was for longer than four hours for around 1 in 4 (24%) of these people.
Waiting for medicines was the most common reason.
Providing information to patients
3
out of 4 (75%) said that they were given the “right amount” of
information about their condition or treatment by staff when they went through
A&E and 80% said the same about their hospital ward; up from 74% and 79% in
2012. However, almost two fifths (39%) felt they were not given sufficient
information about the side effects of their medication before being sent
home.
Alongside the national improvements, some of the
responses in the survey show a wide range in performance between NHS trusts.
For example, there were large variations in responses to questions about
patients being told how to make complaints about their care, whether they
received copies of letters sent between their hospital doctors and GPs, and
whether staff told them about any danger signals they should watch out for
after being discharged. Also, variations were reported in people being given
printed information about what they should do or avoid doing after leaving
hospital, and whether they had someone from the hospital to talk to about their
worries and fears.
Areas where there was the least variation between NHS
trusts include whether respondents felt threatened during their hospital stay
by other patients or visitors, whether they were given enough privacy when
being examined or treated on the hospital ward, and whether hand-wash gels were
available to use. Also, there was little variation in whether people trusted
and had confidence in their doctors. Overall, NHS trusts scored well in all of
these areas.
As
well as a report of the national findings, CQC has published the results for
each of the 156 acute and specialist NHS trusts that took part, so that people
can see how their local services performed.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of
Hospitals said: “It is encouraging that the results for many of the
questions in the survey show improvements, with areas such as information
provision, cleanliness and privacy all performing better than last year.
However, scope for continued improvement remains, including with how patients
are involved in their discharge arrangements.
“I would like NHS trusts to reflect on their
survey results to understand what their patients really think about the care
and treatment they provide. This will help them to identify what they need to
change.
“Gathering feedback from people who use services
is at the heart of our new approach to regulation. We will use information from
the survey as part of our wider monitoring of hospitals, to help us determine
what we should inspect and when.”
Ends
Twitter
hashtag: #patientsurvey
For media enquiries about the Care Quality
Commission, please call the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 during office
hours or out-of-hours on 07917 232 143. For general enquiries, please call
03000 61 61 61.
Notes to editors
- For
further information about the adult inpatients survey, including the national
summary and the results for each NHS trust that took part, please
visit: Inpatient survey 2013
- The
survey was eligible to people who were aged 16 and over and had spent at least
one night in hospital between June and August last year, excluding those who
were admitted to maternity or psychiatry units.
- Information drawn from the survey will be used by CQC as
part of its “Intelligent Monitoring” of hospitals. For further
information about CQC’s Intelligent Monitoring tool, please
visit: Hospital
intelligent monitoring
- The
inpatient survey is part of a wider programme of NHS patient surveys, which
cover topics including maternity, outpatient and A&E services, ambulances,
and community mental health services. For further information, visit: Surveys