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Patients have continued to rate Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells hospitals highly in a national inpatient survey.

The 13th national survey of adult inpatients involved 149 acute and specialist NHS trusts. Nationally, 47% of patients who were discharged from hospital in July 2015, took part in the survey.

The last National Inpatient Survey was conducted in 2015, a year that saw demand for NHS care reach unprecedented levels. Locally, a record number of patients took part in the survey, with 709 patients sharing their views about the care they received from MTW.

Despite the pressures faced by the NHS, the trust received an overall good response from patients who were asked by the Care Quality Commission to rate over 70 areas of their care, covering eight key standards. Overall patients rated their care, and staff, highly and found MTW’s hospitals to be clean and safe. The majority of patients said they felt well looked after while in hospital locally, and had trust and confidence in the doctors and nurses, who treated them with respect and dignity.

The survey results also demonstrate some significant improvements in the areas of the following key questions:

  • Did you ever share a sleeping area with patients of the opposite sex?
  • How would you rate hospital food?
  • Did you have confidence and trust in the doctors treating you?
  • After you used the call button, how long did it usually take before you got help?

Avey Bhatia, Chief Nurse, said: “Our patients have indicated to us once again that our staff are caring and attentive to their needs and treat them with respect and dignity. We are also delighted to see improvements in areas such as hospital food – something we have been focussing on in response to patient feedback.
“We are grateful for their comments and we will continue to focus on improving the experience our patients have with us.”

MTW was rated among the better trusts nationally for ensuring patients are not bothered by noise at night from hospital staff, and in the bottom 20% of trusts nationally for explaining to patients how they could expect to feel after having an operation or procedure. The Trust has identified a number of ways to address this, including how we can work with partner organisations, to improve the way this kind of information is communicated to patients.

The Trust has already made a number of improvements since the survey that are helping to enhance overall patient experience. This year alone, MTW has opened a new urgent medical unit and a dedicated children’s A&E at Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

Ends

Notes to editors:

Based on their overall patient reviews, trusts were give marks out of 10 for each standard. MTW achieved the following scores:

The hospital and ward – 8.4 out of 10 (8.2 in 2014)
Doctors – 8.7 out of 10 (8.4 in 2014)
Nurses – 8.6 out of 10 (8.5 in 2014)
Care and treatment – 8 out of 10 (7.7 in 2014)
Operations and procedures – 8.2 out of 10 (8.2 in 2014)
Leaving hospital – 7.3 out of 10 (7.3 in 2014)
Overall view of care and service – 5.6 out of 10 (5.6 in 2014)
Overall experience – 8.2 out of 10 (8.1 in 2014)