Hospital Trust praised for care and respect in National Inpatient Survey
The Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals has been praised for providing great care with respect and dignity in the latest survey of adult inpatients.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, improved in almost half of the areas covered by the 2016 Survey of Adult Inpatients, carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The results follow positive results in the 2015 survey, which saw a 75% improvement on the 2014 survey, including 19 statistically “significant” improvements.
The Trust saw improvements in 30 of the 61 comparable questions answered by patients in the latest survey.
SaTH performed statistically significantly better than in the previous 2015 results in three areas: Patients being bothered by noise at night from hospital staff; the cleanliness of hospital rooms and wards; and the cleanliness of the toilets and bathrooms which patients used.
Of the 18 areas which saw a fall in patient satisfaction, only two were considered statistically “significant”. SaTH performed worse than average in one area in which patients did not feel they received enough support from staff to help with their recovery or to manage their condition after leaving hospital.
The other areas of the questionnaire saw no change, or did not have a comparison in 2015.
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.
In the overall results, 98% of patients said they felt well looked after by hospital staff, and the same proportion said they were treated with respect and dignity.
The survey also revealed that 96% of patients had confidence and trust in the doctors treating them and 98% had confidence and trust in the nursing staff.
Deirdre Fowler, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Quality at SaTH, said: “As a relative newcomer to the Trust, I am very encouraged by the results from the latest survey of adult inpatients.
“SaTH’s vision is to provide the safest and kindest care in the NHS and surveys such as this are useful to show how far along that journey we are and where we can still make improvements.
“I am very pleased that our patients are satisfied with the care they receive in our hospitals and with the way they are treated by our staff, but there is always room for improvement and we will continue to work hard to ensure we improve again next year.”
The full report, published on 31 May 2017, can be found on the Care Quality Commission website at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXW/survey/3
