Adult Inpatient Survey: what adults say about their time in our hospitals
29/09/2022
This article is more than one year old.
Patients continue to rate their experience of care at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) highly following the publication of the Adult Inpatient Survey 2021.
A total of 473 adults who were inpatients across our four hospitals in November 2021 completed the questionnaire about their experiences at the Trust, rating their overall experience as 8.3 out of 10, a small decline from 8.6 the previous year.
Their answers were analysed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and the results were published on 29 September 2022.
The survey covered a wide range of topics, such as waiting times, privacy and dignity, cleanliness, the standard of care received, food and drink, staffing levels, and patient discharges. Responses were then converted into scores out of 10 for each question, and compared against those from other trusts.
There were no questions for which OUH rated as worse than other Trusts, but it did score better than most in three questions relating to:
- Communicating with patients about what they should and should not be doing after leaving hospital
- Information regarding their medication upon discharge
- Knowing who to contact if there are concerns about their condition / treatment following discharge.
OUH improved its scores from the previous year in the following areas:
- Communicating with patients about what they should and should not be doing after leaving hospital
- Being able to feedback on care during their hospital stay.
The highest rated question scored 9.5 out of 10, relating to whether patients were given enough privacy when being examined or treated.
A large proportion of the free text comments positively reflected staff, care, and treatment.
For example, one comment about the John Radcliffe Hospital, one of OUH's four hospitals, read: "I have been in several different hospitals over the years and I can honestly say the care I received in JR as an inpatient was absolutely second to none.
"The nurses and doctors spoke not just to me in a respectful, empathic, and caring manner but to other patients as well as each other. Nothing seemed too much trouble."
The report also highlighted several areas of improvement for the Trust to make based on areas where scores declined compared to last year's results. These include:
- Pain management on the wards
- Patients feeling that there are enough nurses to care and support them effectively, giving them the help and attention required when needed
- Help from staff to wash and keep clean
- Receiving enough support from health and social care following discharge from hospital
- Waiting time for beds.
The OUH Patient Experience team will work closely with Divisional teams to analyse the results by Division, directorate and ward, with the aim of developing action plans to be monitored by the Trust Board.
Sam Foster, Chief Nursing Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are committed to providing the best possible care to all of our patients, so feedback provided via the Adult Inpatient Survey - both positive and negative - will help us learn and enhance patient experience.
"We are keen to build on the positives - more than half of our 48 questions rated at 8.0 or above - and the Board will be working with clinical colleagues in areas where we know we can improve.
"Thank you to the hundreds of people who took the time to get involved and have their say, helping us to shape our services for future patients."
Nationally, the results show that, generally, people's experiences of inpatient care were positive and overall differences between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients were small, suggesting that care provided was consistent.
The survey results can be read on the CQC website:
Adult inpatient survey 2022 - CQC