Patients give their views on urgent and emergency care
21/11/2024
The Horton General Hospital Emergency Department
Patients at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) have shared their feedback as part of a national survey on the urgent and emergency care they received.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will use its Urgent and Emergency Care Survey 2024, published Thursday 21 November, to build an understanding of the risk and quality of NHS services in England. Data is used by NHS England to understand patient experiences of the services they are receiving from acute settings.
The survey for OUH was carried out in two parts: emergency care provided at the John Radcliffe and Horton General hospitals' Emergency Departments, and the urgent care provided at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
Both urgent and emergency care performed well in some areas, including:
- Clear communication after patients' initial assessment,
- Providing enough privacy to patients when they were examined or treated,
- Treating patients with respect and dignity.
One of the main areas for improvement for both urgent and emergency care was communication around waiting times.
Overall, OUH performed better than other Trusts in seven questions, worse than other Trusts in one question, and about the same in the remaining 48 questions.
A total of 379 patients who received urgent or emergency care at OUH in February 2024 were surveyed.
Yvonne Christley, Chief Nursing Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are pleased to see that the Urgent and Emergency Care Survey reflects the dedication and hard work of our staff. While there is always room for improvement, the positive feedback highlights our commitment to providing high-quality care to our patients.
"I am very proud of our hardworking teams, including at our two Emergency Departments. The departments are incredibly busy areas of our hospitals, and staff there continue to deliver compassionate excellence.
"Thank you to all the patients who took the time to provide feedback via the survey, which helps us identify what we do well and what can be done better."
Dr Larry Fitton, Emergency Department Consultant and Divisional Director for Medicine, Rehabilitation and Cardiac (MRC) at OUH, said: "Our teams are dedicated to continuously improving the patient experience, and we are grateful for the feedback that helps us to better understand and meet the needs of our community.
"It is encouraging to see our good work recognised, particularly as we head into winter and the busier months. There are always useful lessons to learn from patient feedback, and we will look carefully at the results of the survey to identify areas of improvement."
The survey, conducted every two years, has undergone a large-scale redevelopment, including changes to methodology, sample month and the questions asked in the survey. Therefore, no historical comparisons are available for the 2024 survey.
Full results can be found on the CQC website.