Patients give Trust healthy diagnosis

5:00am Wednesday 14th May 2008

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Patients have given Airedale Hospital a clean bill of health in the biggest survey of patients staying overnight in English NHS hospitals.

But patients at hospitals in Bradford did not show the same level of confidence in their care, the survey published today by independent health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, reveals.

A total of 166 NHS trusts took part in the fifth annual patient survey, with almost 76,000 patients completing the survey nationwide.

Patients were asked a wide range of questions about their time in hospital from the time of admission, to the cleanliness of wards and toilets, the quality of food, whether they were treated with dignity and the quality of their medical and nursing care.

At Airedale 456 patients took part and 94 per cent of these rated their overall care as either excellent, very good, or good.

Responses to questions about the doctors, nurses and care and treatment were rated the highest. The results were among the top 20 per cent of the best performing trusts in 15 out of 18 key areas.

A total of 97 per cent said their ward or hospital room was very clean or fairly clean and 72 per cent said their hospital food was very good or good.

Patient comments included: "On the whole I rate Airedale Hospital a very good hospital - I have previously been offered a private hospital but chose Airedale. In my opinion it is excellent and I have every confidence being treated there," and "I had an aura of comfort, safety and peace."

Bridget Fletcher, director of nursing at Airedale NHS Trust, said: "We are absolutely delighted that our patients have rated us so highly in this very important national survey. Our priority is to provide high quality, personalised care for our patients in a safe and clean environment.

"The excellent results of this survey show our focus and dedication on keeping our hospital clean and giving an excellent standard of nursing care is making a difference where it matters most - with our patients.

"Our aim is to be the hospital of choice trusted by the public to meet their needs and these results, which show us in the top 20 per cent of trusts in the entire country, are a significant step towards achieving that goal. The survey did highlight areas for improvement including receiving information on the patients condition in A&E, being given a choice of admission dates and receiving copies of letters sent to the patient's GP.

"The Trust has set up an action team to address these areas."

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospitals, found its patients placed it in the bottom 20 per cent of trusts in the country in its performance in a range of areas.

These include choice of food, confidence and trust in how they were being treated by doctors and nurses, pain control, privacy when discussing treatments and the cleanliness of toilets and bathrooms.

A spokesman for the Foundation Trust said: "We have been looking closely at the results and are working to address the areas that we can improve in, as well as making sure we continue to perform well in areas such as A&E waiting times and good provision of single-sex wards and facilities.

"As well as the inpatient survey, the Foundation Trust carries out its own surveys and recognises that we can continue to improve, to make sure our patients have the best possible experience when they come into our hospitals."

To see the survey information in detail visit healthcarecommission.org.uk/ PatientSurveyInpatient2007.