Patient experience at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has improved in most areas according to the latest National Adult Inpatient Survey published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The survey looks at the experiences of people who were discharged from an NHS acute hospital after spending at least one night in hospital during July 2019.
Overall, 8.1 out of 10 respondents said they had a very good experience whilst being cared for by the Trust with improvements noted in several areas.
Compared with individual section score results in the 2018 survey, the Trust ranked higher for eight of the 12 areas and the same for the other four.
Areas where the Trust performed better compared to last year’s survey include:
- Patients having confidence and trust in Doctors and other clinical staff
- Patients felt they were given reasons for being moved in hospitals in a way they could understand
- Patients understood the next steps of their care after leaving hospital
- Patients felt staff did everything they could to control their pain
BTH’s results are based on the responses of 524 inpatients who were cared for in July 2019 and had a stay of at least one night in Blackpool Victoria or Clifton Hospital. The Trust’s response rate to the survey was 44%.
Eleanor Walsh, Head of Patient Experience at the Trust, said: “Patient feedback like this is essential for us to identify any gaps in our services and implement changes that will improve the quality of care and patient safety.
“We have worked hard since the publication of the previous survey in 2018 to introduce new initiatives to improve patient and staff experience in the NHS, with the #Hellomynameisbadges so patients can see then first names of staff and the Hidden Disabilities Scheme to help recognise and care for patients with a number of conditions including autism or hearing impairment.
“Colleagues and our volunteers should be proud of the improvements they have made and recognise this as a solid foundation in providing even better patient experience in the future. I am looking forward to the results of the 2020 survey.”
Peter Murphy, Director of Nursing, AHPs and Quality at the Trust, said: “Listening to patients and staff about their experiences whilst in our care – what we do well and where we can improve – is absolutely essential.
“We recognise that there are areas for improvement but these results help to show us that we are on the right path in the majority of areas.
“I’d like to thank all those that took the time to feedback on their experiences, and our multi-disciplinary teams across all adult inpatient services for all their hard work in achieving this for patients and families.”
Areas of further work for the Trust include:
- The quality of information given to the specialist by the person who referred the patient
- Discussion of how operations or procedures went
- Information for carers needed after leaving hospital
More than 75,000 people across the UK took part in the survey carried out by Picker Institute Europe.