Adult inpatient survey: patients have their say on care at OUH
21/08/2024
Patients continue to rate their experience of care at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) following the publication of the Adult Inpatient Survey 2023.
A total of 521 adults who were inpatients across our four hospitals in November 2023 completed the questionnaire about their experiences at the Trust. The Trust scored 8.5 for the overall experience, which is on a par with all participating trusts in England.
The survey consisted of questions asking about the patient’s experience with admission to hospital, conditions in wards and hospitals, experience with the doctors and nurses, about their care and treatment, and experience of leaving the hospital.
It covered a wide range of topics such as waiting times, privacy and dignity, cleanliness, the standard of care received, food and drink, staffing levels, virtual wards, and patient discharges.
Responses were then converted into scores out of 10 for each question and compared against those from other trusts.
The Trust scored better and somewhat better than most in eight questions relating to:
- Waiting time for a bed on a ward after arriving at hospital
- Patients understood the doctors' answers to questions
- Patients' confidence and trust in doctors
- Information provided about patients' conditions
- Involving families and carers in patients' discharge from hospital
- Information provided on what to do, and not to, when leaving hospital
- Information provided on take-home medicine
- The provision of information about who to contact if patients were worried about their condition after leaving hospital.
The report found examples of excellence, including one of the highest-rated questions about whether patients had faith in the doctors treating them, with a score of 9.4 out of 10. The Trust scored 9.3 for the questions on staff kindness and compassion, and for patients being treated with respect and dignity.
The report also identified areas for improvement, such as quality of sleep at night, quality of food and hospital discharge. The findings from the report will enable targeted analysis and actions to improve the areas of importance to our patients and families.
A large proportion of the free text comments reflective positively on staff, care, and treatment.
For example, one comment said: "All staff including consultants, doctors and nurses were very professional and caring, and I always thought I was in the best place for my condition."
Another read: "With the level of care provided by all staff, I had full confidence in the medical and other staff. Explanations were clear and reassuring."
Another patient said: "I felt very well looked after by staff when needed. Everything explained well by staff so understood what was going on, overall, very pleased with my experience."
Yvonne Christley, Chief Nursing Officer and Executive Lead for Patient Experience at OUH, said: "We are grateful to everyone who took the time to share their experience of being in our care and in doing so helping us to further improve our services for future patients.
"We are committed to providing excellent compassionate care to all of our patients, so feedback received via the Adult Inpatient Survey - both positive and negative - is important for us to continually learn and improve patient experience.
"I am delighted that the survey reflects positively on the patients' trust in our doctors, on our staff's kindness and compassion, and on patients being treated with respect and dignity. Thank you to our staff for their hard work, compassion and commitment to providing outstanding care to our patients. Your contributions make OUH an organisation we can all be proud of."
The survey results are on the CQC website: CQC Inpatient Survey 2023.