Trust continuing to provide excellent patient experience

26 April 2012

90 per cent of patients say the inpatient care they received from Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust was good or excellent, according to a national report out this week.

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) national annual inpatient survey looks at a wide range of areas, from arriving at hospital, to the quality of care received and discharge arrangements. Patients were asked about their experiences in June 2011.

The inpatient survey found that 90 per cent of inpatients questioned rated the quality of care as ‘excellent’, ‘very good’ or ‘good’, and 76 per cent of patients said they were ‘always’ treated with dignity and respect.  

Buckinghamshire Healthcare was also placed in the best performing 10 per cent of trusts regarding hand hygiene, with almost all patients saying that they had seen posters and leaflets on hand hygiene (98%) and reporting that hand-wash gels were available for patients and visitors (84%).  In addition, 78 per cent of patients reported that doctors and nurses washed or cleaned their hands between touching patients.

The survey highlighted that since 2010, the Trust has improved in certain areas, including; patients being provided with enough privacy when being examined in A&E (81%) and patients being offered a choice of food (84%).

Other findings from the survey include; 75 per cent of patients said that a member of staff explained the purpose of take-home medicines in a way they could understand – an area that previous surveys identified as needing improvement, and when asked if they were as involved as they wanted to be in decisions about their care, 87 per cent of patients said that they were.

However, there were four areas, out of 77, where we performed less well than in the 2010 survey, these were: the length of time patients were on a waiting list; opportunities for family or someone close to speak to a doctor; involvement in decisions about discharge from hospital; and the length of time from referral to being admitted to hospital.  We take this feedback seriously and are already working hard to make improvements, for example we have made major progress recently with our 18 week targets.

Lynne Swiatczak, chief nurse, said: “It is rewarding to know that the majority of our patients found care standards to be high and that they were treated in a way that was dignified and respectful. While the report contains positives, we know that there is always room for improvement and will be looking to build on its findings, focussing on areas where we did not perform as well as previous surveys.

“To help address these areas, we have involved our patient experience group and are using their experiences, as well as using feedback from patient compliments and complaints, to help develop our action plans.”

Lynne, added: “Indeed, since this survey was conducted we have made a number of improvements to our inpatient services including: weekly matron rounds to ask patients and visitors about any concerns they have; information about accessing a doctor is now available on every ward; improved discharge planning with patient and carer involvement in decision making; updated patient handbook in every ward and department; and trials of a visitors comment book.”