PATIENTS at St John’s Hospital have given the hospital the thumbs up by scoring it highly in a national survey.
Results from the 2011 Inpatient Patient Experience Survey were published this week, and show that St John’s scored higher than the Scottish average in a number of areas.
Ninety-eight per cent of patients at St John’s thought the information they were given before attending hospital helped them understand what would happen – two per cent higher than the Scottish average.
The food and drink at the hospital was rated as 11 per cent higher than the Scottish average, with patients at St John’s giving the food a score of 78 per cent.
Cleanliness received top marks, with 94 per cent saying the ward or room they stayed in was clean, an increase of two per cent on the national score, and 92 per cent saying the bathrooms and toilets were clean, which was five per cent higher than the Scottish average.
There was also praise for the staff at the hospital with 83 per cent saying there was enough time to talk to the doctors, an increase of seven per cent on last year’s score.
Nine out of ten people felt the doctors listened to them if they had any questions or concerns and that the doctors gave them clear explanations about operations and procedures.
Ninety-eight per cent said they understood how and when to take their medicines, which was four per cent higher than last year, and two per cent higher than the national average.
Although some scores were below the national average, many of these had improved from last year’s scores.
Sixty-one per cent said they were given help with arranging transport to get home, which was one per cent below the national average, but this represented a 12 per cent improvement on last year’s score.
Eighty-three per cent of patients treated in A&E said they were told what was happening in a way they could understand, and this represented a four per cent increase from last year.
Across NHS Lothian as a whole, the results were also positive. More than eight out of ten patients said they were satisfied with the overall experience of their stay in hospital and 94 per cent of those who responded felt they had been treated with care.
Pat Dawson, Associate Nurse director, NHS Lothian, said: “Measuring feedback from patients plays an important role in the ongoing improvement of our services, and it is important that we listen to what our patients are telling us.
“The results for St John’s Hospital are very encouraging, particularly those scores which show we are above the national average, or that we have improved significantly since last year.
“However, we are not complacent and we recognise that there is still room for improvement. We will use the results from this survey constructively and work closely with our patients to help shape our services.”
NHS Lothian has also implemented a new patient feedback system called ‘Fast Frequent Feedback’ which has gathered the views of over 500 patients across Lothian over the past three months, as a way of measuring ongoing feedback from patients.
Notes for editors:
- Better Together is NHS Scotland’s national programme to find out what patients think about their experiences of healthcare services in Scotland.
- A random sample of 389 inpatients at St John’s Hospital were asked to give feedback on aspects of their stay at the hospital between October 2009 and September 2010.
- The full survey results are available at www.bettertogetherscotland.com
Issued: 01.09.2011
Aileen MacArthur
acting communications manager
0131 465 5646
Aileen.macarthur@nhs.net
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