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Patient Surveys

Obtaining the views of our patients

All NHS Trusts in England are required to carry out surveys of patients' views in order to build up a detailed picture across the country of the experiences of people using individual NHS services. Measuring these experiences in a structured way helps ensure that improving patient experience remains a priority for the NHS.

At Addenbrooke's, these surveys are seen as one important part of Patient-Public Involvement. They are part of our 'listening, learning and improving' process, in which comments from patients about our services can lead to improvements being made. This helps us ensure that what we do is shaped around the needs of our patients.

Survey 2004:

The Inpatient Survey asked patients about their experience on being admitted to hospital, noise levels and cleanliness in the hospital and on wards, how medical staff communicated with them, their care and treatment, how pain was managed and their discharge from hospital.

Addenbrooke's scored well when asked whether staff did everything they could to control their pain, and whether they were treated with respect and dignity.

The Young Patient Survey asked patients a variety of questions including how patients perceived their care and treatment and about facilities for parents.

The Addenbrooke's survey showed high levels of satisfaction for visiting hours, facilities for parents or guardians staying overnight and being offered a bed near their child.

Following previous national patient surveys, Addenbrooke's has worked hard on areas that were found to need improvements.

One area that has been improved is pain management. A pain audit has resulted in plans to launch a pain register, and information on pain management has been given to patients. Standards have been re-written and simplified, and an education package launched to senior ward staff.

The hospital has also made changes to the patient catering service, including the National Menu - a new 14-day menu, which includes 'celebrity chef' dishes, snack boxes available to patients who have missed meals and enhanced ward-based kitchen services.

Survey 2003:

In 2003, two surveys focused on the views of patients who have either recently received treatment in Accident and Emergency (The A&E Survey), or attended outpatients clinics (The Outpatient Survey) at Addenbrooke's.

The Trust worked with an approved survey contractor, the Picker Institute Europe, to administer the surveys. The Institute sent forms to a random sample of patients who had received services at Addenbrooke's in a given time period. They were asked to return their forms to the Institute, which compiled the data and sent it to the National Advice Centre for analysis; this data is included in the star-rating performance indicators that are published annually (in July 2003, Addenbrooke's retained its three-stars, which is the highest rating possible). They also provided us at Addenbrooke's with a detailed analysis of our data, which has been circulated to key staff (see below).