Home   News   Article

Patients reporting positive experience at NHS hospitals





Positive feedback from Lawson Memorial Hospital
Positive feedback from Lawson Memorial Hospital

NHS Highland has welcomed the publication of the Better Together inpatient experience surveys where thousands of patients across Highland were asked to feedback their experience of their hospital stay.

Over 5000 patients in Highland were sent a questionnaire as part of the survey and, of the 55 per cent who responded, the feedback has been good, with results significantly above the national average.

Garry Coutts, Chair of NHS Highland, is delighted that patients are reporting such a positive experience from their stay.

He said: "No one wants to have to come into hospital, but when they do they have the right to expect high quality care. I am pleased, but not surprised, to hear that NHS Highland staff are continuing to provide excellent services to patients and I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff for their dedication and commitment.

"While I am pleased with the responses received, we are not complacent. We will continue to monitor our standards and have many improvement programmes in place to build on our successes.

"We know that we don’t get everything right every time and we will continue to work with patients and the Highland and Argyll and Bute Communities to improve the quality of our services."

The NHS Highland Board has undertaken an initial analysis of the results and will be developing improvement plans over the next few weeks. Areas with room for improvement include knowing which member of staff is in charge in a ward and the quality of food and drink served.

Elaine Mead, NHS Highland Chief Executive, said: "NHS Highland is currently implementing the new national uniform across the organisation. The nurse in charge will be clearly identified as they will be the only nurse on the ward wearing a navy tunic. As implementation of the new uniform continues we would expect it to become much clearer to our patients to know who is in charge."

Work is also being carried out with catering within NHS Highland. New menus are being developed which will offer increased choice as well as meeting nutritional needs. These will also have small appetite options as well as multi cultural menus.

You can access the feedback page on the NHS website at www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk, or e.mail nhshighland.feedback@nhs.net or you can put your comments in writing to Patient Feedback, c/o The Complaint Team, NHS Highland, PO Box 5713, Inverness, IV1 9AQ.

• A total of 37 patients (38%) staying at least one night at the Lawson Memorial Hospital, Golspie, returned the survey.

The top five "positive" responses were to the following questions:

I had privacy when being examined and treated – 100%

Doctors told me how my operation or procedure had gone in a way I could understand – 100%

Doctors knew enough about my condition and treatment – 97%

Doctors talked in a way that helped me understand my condition and treatment – 97%

From the time you arrived at hospital, how did you feel about the time you had to wait to get a bed on the ward – 97%

The top five "negative" responses were to the following questions:

I knew who was in charge of the ward – 71%

I was not bothered by noise at night – 76%

I was told about any danger signals to watch for when I got home – 80%

I was confident that any help I need had been arranged for when I got home – 83%

I got help with washing and dressing when I needed it – 83%


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More