National inpatient survey
What is the national inpatient survey?
Adult patients discharged from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital following an inpatient stay (eg admitted to a ward) in August 2011 were sent a survey inviting them to comment on various aspects of their care.
This was part of the national inpatient survey that all NHS hospitals are required to participate in every year.
The survey was sent to 1,700 patients of whom 625 completed and returned questionnaires – a 38% response rate.
The results of the national inpatient survey were published in April 2011.
How do patients rate their care overall?
89% of patients who responded to the national inpatient survey rated their care at Chelsea and Westminster as ‘Excellent’, ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good’.
96% of patients would recommend the hospital to their friends and family.
What do patients rate highly?
There were significant improvements on 7 questions when compared to the previous survey in 2010, no questions with significantly worse scores, and no significant difference in the vast majority of areas.
Areas in which our performance improved significantly since the 2010 survey include:
- Privacy of patients being treated in A&E
- Single sex accommodation to ensure the privacy and dignity of patients
- Patients given printed information about their condition or treatment before being admitted to hospital
- Posters or leaflets asking patients to wash their hands or use alcohol hand gel to clean their hands
- Noise at night being kept to a minimum
What do we do better than other hospitals?
Areas in which Chelsea and Westminster scores significantly better than the national average include:
- Patients being given an opportunity to give their views on their care and posters or leaflets explaining how patients can complain about their care
- Patients being provided with somewhere to keep their personal belongings safely while in hospital
- Information provided to patients when they are discharged from hospital including printed information about medicines, copies of letters sent between hospital doctors and their GP, and letters being written in a way that can be understood
- Posters or leaflets asking patients to wash their hands or use alcohol hand gel to clean their hands
What do patients think we could do better?
There are a number of areas in which Chelsea and Westminster scores significantly worse than the national average including involving patients in decisions about their care and ensuring that patients know who to contact if they are worried.
How are we addressing these concerns?
We are already taking action to address concerns, for example by providing patients with an information card when come into hospital.
Chief Executive Heather Lawrence says: “I am confident that our work to embed the Trust’s recently agreed values – respectful, safe, kind and excellent – and ensure that the behaviours of our staff reflect these values will help to improve the experience of our patients.”
