Trust one of only six to improve the experience of its adult inpatients in national survey

Date: 07/11/2022 | Category: News 2022

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is one of only 6 NHS trusts nationally to have made improvements on its results from the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) annual Adult Inpatient Survey, run through national survey programme Picker.

84% of respondents rated their overall experience in the Trust’s inpatient wards at 7 or more out of 10, 99% felt they were treated with dignity and respect and 98% had confidence and trust in their doctors.

The Trust also made improvements in scores including the amount of information given on conditions and treatments, from 78% in 2020 to 85% in 2021, and explaining how well patients might feel after a procedure, which rose from 82% to 86%.

In the next couple of weeks teams across the Trust will be devising an action plan to tackle some of the scores that require improvement, such as the frequency at which patients are asked to give their views on the quality of care during their stay and explaining who to contact should they be worried after discharge. The Trust is also aware that more work is needed to ensure that more staff are available to help patients during mealtimes.

Karen Bonner, Chief Nurse at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “Being one of only 6 organisations, out of the 73 who use the Picker survey, to see an improvement in our inpatient care results is fantastic. This is thanks to the constant compassion and dedication of the brilliant people who work at our Trust. It also builds on the outstanding care rating we received during our last CQC inspection.

“We are determined to learn from every patient interaction to continually improve services, better understand health and care needs and enable more efficient and patient-centred care. The feedback provided by our inpatients will guide these improvements over the coming months.”

The Picker Adult Inpatient Survey is a national NHS survey and provides a detailed report which benchmarks against comparable Trusts.