21 April 2011
An independent survey has shown that patients being treated at Epsom and St Helier hospitals rate their care highly, they see doctors and nurses working well together and the areas that they are looked after in are clean.
The Care Quality Commission’s NHS Inpatient Survey 2010, which was published earlier today (21 April 2011), showed a number of positive findings, including:
- 87% of patients rated their care as good or excellent;
- 94% thought their room or ward was very/fairly clean;
- 87% of patients thought our doctors and nurses worked well together;
- 91% thought the toilets and bathrooms were very/fairly clean;
- 90% of our patients said that hand wash gels were visible and available to use.
The results also show that our hospitals are quiet environments for patients, and that 92% of people were not bothered by other patient’s visitors, while 85% of people weren’t disturbed by noise from staff working during the night.
Pippa Hart, Director of Nursing, said: "As you would expect, our patients are at the centre of absolutely everything we do, so I am delighted to see that they are positive about the care we are providing. That’s not only good news for our hospitals, but good news for the 700,000 patients we see every year.
"No one really wants to be admitted to hospital and it’s often a very unsettling and worrying time. As such, it’s important that our doctors, nurses and other staff do all they can to make our patients as comfortable as possible, from the moment they are admitted to the minute they are discharged. For me, we should treat our patients in the same way we would want to be looked after if we were in hospital, or if it was a relative or friend.
"I would like to thank all of our staff and volunteers, as it is their hard work that makes us the success that we are. I’d also like to thank all of the patients who took the time to complete the survey and to give us such valuable feedback."
The Care Quality Commission’s NHS Inpatient Survey 2010 involved 161 acute and specialist NHS trusts. Over 66,000 patients took part, a response rate of 50%. Patients were eligible for the survey if they were aged 16 years or older, had at least one overnight stay and were not admitted to maternity or psychiatric units.
More than 390 people completed the survey for our hospitals, a response rate of 47.8%.
Pippa added: "We are pleased with the results, but definitely not complacent. We know that the hard work isn’t over and that there’s much more we can do to improve the experience inpatients have in our hospitals.
"This includes making sure they have the opportunity to speak to their doctor more often and that any possible side effects of their medication are explained thoroughly."
