The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has now published the results of its adult inpatient survey for 2020.
The CQC uses the survey to find out about, and then shares, the experiences of people who have stayed ‘at least one night in hospital as an inpatient’.
Findings from the survey include that ‘overall differences between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients were small, suggesting that care provided was consistent’, according to the CQC. While, results from areas such as ‘people’s experiences of receiving emotional support, information sharing and hospital discharge’ were described by the body as as ‘less positive’.
However, the CQC received broadly positive results, with 40 per cent of patients surveyed rating their overall hospital experience as ‘10 out of 10’, while CQC adds that 85 per cent of patients said they were ‘always’ treated with respect and dignity.
In addition, ‘most patients’ told the survey that they had ‘confidence and trust in the doctors and nurses treating them’ – with 84 per cent for doctors and 83 per cent for nurses.
Regarding other interactions with staff, the CQC reports that ‘most people’ who responded to the survey ‘understood the answers to their questions all of the time’, with 75 per cent for doctors in this area, and 77 per cent for nurses.
On the topic of cleanliness, a key finding was that ‘almost all people’ – 98 per cent – in the survey said that they ‘experienced good levels of cleanliness in their hospital room or ward’.
Areas for improvement included patient discharge from hospital, with 30 per cent of people saying that they were ‘not given any written information about what they should or should not do after leaving hospital’, and 23 per cent of people feeling that staff did not involve them in ‘decisions around them leaving hospital’.
Another result of note was that only 13 per cent of people surveyed reported being ‘asked to give their views on the quality of their care’.
To find out more about the survey and results, visit the CQC website.
