Patients tell NHS what they think

Published 1 Aug 2010 09:30

NHS Ayrshire & Arran inpatients have given local healthcare a vote of confidence in a national survey to find out what patients think about their experiences of healthcare services in Scotland.

The Scottish Inpatient Experience Survey was commissioned as part of Better Together Scotland's patient experience programme, to help develop its programme of surveys and other research.

The survey was sent to 7720 people who had stayed overnight in NHS Ayrshire & Arran hospitals, including East Ayrshire Community Hospital in Cumnock, during 2008/09. It asked them about their experiences of:

Admission

The hospital ward and environment

Care and treatment

Staff

Leaving hospital

Medicines

The people surveyed had been inpatients in either Ayr, Crosshouse, Ayrshire Central, Biggart, East Ayrshire Community Hospital, Davidson Cottage Hospital in Girvan or Arran War Memorial between October 2008 and September 2009.

Of those surveyed, 3587 patients responded, and NHS Ayrshire & Arran's top five results revealed that:

96 per cent of people reported that they understood how and when to take their medicine;

94 per cent of people reported that they had privacy when being examined and treated;

94 per cent of people reported that they understood what their medicines were for;

93 per cent of people reported that the main ward or room they stayed in was clean; and

92 per cent of people reported that the information they were given before attending hospital helped them understand what would happen.

Dr Wai-yin Hatton, Chief Executive, commented: "We welcome these results, which will help us continue to improve patients' experience of both the hospital environment and the care they receive in our busy district general hospitals and community hospitals. While we are pleased to hear about areas where we perform well, we are always disappointed if a patient has an unsatisfactory experience. We are never complacent, and are committed to improving the quality of health care by listening to people's experiences to find out what is important to them and where we can do better."

 

Mrs Fiona McQueen, Executive Nurse Director, added: "Our aim is to provide patient-centred care where staff and patients are partners of the NHS and have a greater say in the way services are delivered. The Better Together programme will help us achieve this.

"We are also very grateful to all the staff whose caring and commitment contributed to the favourable results."

 

These provisional results are available at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health. These results will be updated and presented in a national report which will be published on 28 September 2010 at http://www.bettertogetherscotland.com and http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Home

Ends

Date of release: Friday 30 July 2010

Notes to editors:

The survey was commissioned by NHS Ayrshire & Arran as part of Scotland's Patient Experience Programme 'Better Together' and was carried out by their approved contractor (Quality Health).

Of those patients willing to provide information about themselves:

43 per cent were male and 57 per cent were female;

6 per cent were aged 16-34; 15 per cent were aged 35-49; 27 per cent were aged 50-64; and 52 per cent were 65 and over;

7 per cent did not have any limiting illness or disability.

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This article appeared in Cumnock Chronicle 30 Jul 10

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