Hospital Trust improves in survey of patient satisfaction

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford improved in nearly 75% of the areas covered by the 2015 Survey of Adult Inpatients, carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Trust saw improvements in 46 of the 63 questions answered by patients, with 19 “significant” improvements, including two which were among the best results in the country.

Of the 10 areas which saw a fall in patient satisfaction, only one was considered “significant” and the results were still in line with most other Trusts in the country. The other areas of the questionnaire saw no change, or did not have a comparison in 2014.

Patients were asked questions based on their experience in different departments of the Trust, as well as about their experience with Doctors and Nurses and their care and treatment.

Sarah Bloomfield, Director of Nursing and Quality at SaTH, said: “The results from the latest survey of adult inpatients are very encouraging. We are on a journey to become one of the safest and kindest organisations in the NHS. We know this will take time, but it is important that we see improvements along every step of that journey. We have seen improvements for three years in a row with all categories and questions now ‘about the same as other trusts’.

“It is great to see that more of our patients are satisfied with the care they have received in our hospitals and with the way they were treated by our staff while they were here. However, our aim is to see as many of our scores as possible in the ‘best in country’ category.

“We will keep learning and looking at where we can make improvements so that, hopefully, next year we see a further improvement in the survey results.”