The figures released on Tuesday April 16 by the Care Quality Commission show the vast majority of patients felt they were treated with dignity and respect and were happy with their experience. The review also found that East Surrey Hospital’s performance has improved across many areas and that patient confidence in the doctors and nurses has grown. The CQC sent the questionnaire to inpatients treated at the hospital in August 2012. The tenth survey covered a range of topics including food, hospital cleanliness and standards of treatment. Based on patient responses the hospital received scores out of 10 for each question. The hospital scored highly in several areas, gaining a 9 for room and ward cleanliness and 9.6 for patient privacy during treatment. For 24 of the questions the hospital was graded as ‘statistically significantly improved’ which means that the change in the results is very unlikely to have occurred by chance. Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust runs East Surrey Hospital and its chief executive Michael Wilson said: “I am really pleased to see an improvement in our results and that patient confidence in the treatment they receive at the hospital is growing. Last year we were ranked in the bottom 20% of trusts for 6 out of ten categories. This year we are ranked with the majority (60%) of trusts which reflects the on-going hard work and commitment of the staff across the hospital and trust”. Since November the trust has also been continuously monitoring patient feedback though it’s “Your Care Matters” survey. All patients are encouraged to complete this after they leave the hospital. The chief executive added: “Every month we get the latest results from this survey. Importantly this shows us that we are maintaining the standards highlighted in the CQC survey. Both these surveys will help us target areas that we need to continue working on.” The trust also uses the Patient Opinion website (www.patientopinion.org.uk) to track feedback. The independent site lets patients put their opinions, both good and bad, on the website. The trust aims to respond to all comments posted on the site.
